Stephen Alpher

Stephen is CoinDesk's managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Stephen Alpher

Latest from Stephen Alpher


Markets

Ether surges 10%, leading crypto rebound as ETF demand, Bitmine buying pick up

Fresh ETF inflows, digital asset treasury buying and a shift away from bitcoin to altcoins are helping lift the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Ethereum (ETH) price on Monday (CoinDesk)

Markets

Institutions had ‘diamond hands’ during bitcoin's 50% plunge, Bitwise's Matt Hougan says

“The wildest thing about my $1 million prediction is that it's not wild at all,” said the digital asset fund manager's CIO.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan (CoinDesk Archives)

Markets

Bitcoin eyes $75,000, nearing 25% bounce from February bottom

Gains came for crypto and stocks as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz appeared to ease slightly, sending oil prices lower.

Bitcoin (BTC) price on Monday (CoinDesk)

Markets

Bitcoin outperforms gold and stocks in global turmoil as ETFs and Strategy accumulate

Wall Street broker Bernstein took note of an institutional ownership shift as behind bitcoin's resilience during this latest bout of global turmoil.

(Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Advertisement

Markets

Michael Saylor's Strategy made another huge buy of bitcoin, adding $1.57 billion worth last week

The company's stack now stands at 761,068 bitcoin, acquired for $57.61 billion.

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR)

Markets

Bitwise’s Matt Hougan revisits $1 million bitcoin — analysts agree but debate his timeline

Hougan says bitcoin could reach that milestone if it captures a larger share of the global store-of-value market, though analysts say it would likely take years of institutional adoption and macro shifts.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan (Suzanne Cordiero/CoinDesk/Shutterstock)

Tech

AI agents are quietly rewriting prediction market trading

Valory co-founder David Minarsch says autonomous agents running on the Olas protocol are giving retail traders a 24/7, strategy-driven edge on platforms like Polymarket.

(Unsplash)

Finance

Crypto broker Bitpanda bets on banks and tokenization to expand globally ahead of IPO plans

The Vienna-based crypto broker eyes emerging markets, teaming up with institutions rather than competing with local exchanges, said Vishal Sacheendran, VP of global markets strategy and operations.

Vishal Sacheendran, Bitpanda's vice president of global markets strategy and operations (Bitpanda)

Advertisement

Finance

Wall Street pushes tokenized stocks, but institutions aren’t eager to trade them

Exchanges are racing toward blockchain-based equities and 24/7 trading. Institutions, however, fear liquidity and funding risks.

CoinDesk

Markets

The math behind Strategy’s path to 1 million bitcoin by the end of 2026

The largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin would need to buy roughly 6,158 BTC per week, a pace its exceeded often in recent months.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor at the Digital Asset Summit in New York City on March 20, 2025. (Nikhilesh De)