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


Finance

The market for tokenized equities has exploded by almost 3,000% in a single year

Tokenized stocks grew nearly 3,000% in 2025 as new SEC rules and a DTCC pilot pushed the asset class toward the $1 billion milestone, led by Ondo and Securitize.

Stock market price charts (Anne Nygård/Unsplash)

Markets

Anatomy of bitcoin's plunge this week: The dollar's bottom was BTC's top

It seems like ages ago, but bitcoin rose to just shy of $91,000 on Wednesday. Then the U.S. dollar started to strengthen.

Dolar rises, bitcoin falls

Markets

Precious metals crash, with silver plunging 35%, gold falling 12% while bitcoin holds at $83,000

Crypto bulls who have theorized that bitcoin can't begin rising until money flows out of red-hot precious metals are about to find out if they were correct.

A soap bubble suspended mid-air (Unsplash/Braedon McLeod/Modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

Hedge fund billionaire Stan Druckenmiller on Warsh as Fed chair: ‘no one better equipped’

The conventional wisdom on Trump's pick for Fed chair says he's a hawk. Stanley Druckenmiller, who made billions fading conventional wisdom, suggests that's not necessarily so.

Kevin Warsh with Stanley Druckenmiller

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Markets

Bitcoin pulls back to as low as $81,000 as horrendous day continues

The world's largest cryptocurrency has shed nearly $10,000 over the past 24 hours, now threatening to take out its recent November low just under $81,000.

Ether has fallen below a key bull market trendline.  (Eva Blue/Unsplash)

Policy

El Salvador's central bank buys $50 million of gold as government keeps adding bitcoin

The bitcoin-friendly nation's central bank now holds over $360 million of the yellow metal, while the government, led by President Nayib Bukele, has bitcoin holdings worth $635 million.

El Salvador flag (Getty Images)

Markets

Bitcoin holds $84,000 — for now — but analysts warn of drop to $70,000 if support fails

Thursday's decline showed that, despite hopes for being a macro hedge, bitcoin continues to trade like the riskiest of risk assets when markets turn lower.

CoinDesk

Finance

Tokenization firm Securitize reports 841% revenue growth as it prepares to go public

With crypto prices and crypto-related stocks in the midst of a major selloff today, Securitize SPAC merger partner Cantor Equity Partners II is higher by 4.4% on the news.

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo (Securitize)

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Markets

Crypto stocks sink as spot volume plunges and bitcoin tumbles below $84,000

Bellwether crypto exchange Coinbase was lower for an 8th straight session on Thursday to its weakest level since May.

Stock market price charts (Anne Nygård/Unsplash)

Markets

Here are key levels to watch as bitcoin plunges to $84,000

While precious metals and stocks bounce from their worst levels of the session, crypto remains near the day's low.

Tug of war. (Shutterstock)