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


Tech

Ethereum L2 Starknet Seeks 'Bitcoin's DeFi Take-Off Moment' With BTC Wallet Xverse

The aim is to provide a Bitcoin DeFi experience using trust assumptions as the next big thing to zero-knowledge proofs until such a time that OP_CAT is adopted

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson (Margaux Nijkerk)

Markets

Mt. Gox Moves Another $930M Bitcoin as Payout Deadline Looms

Wallets linked to Mt. Gox still hold $2.9 billion of assets, which are due to be paid out to creditors this October.

Mt. Gox Creditor Kolin Burges confronts Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles (CoinDesk)

Markets

U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve a 'Monumental Endorsement' of the Crypto: H.C. Wainwright

The SBR will elevate bitcoin's institutional standing, the report said.

Trump's BTC reserve comprises of coins seized in enforcement actions. (hoekstrarogier/Pixabay)

Finance

Ether Whale Prevents $340M Liquidation With Series of Last Minute Deposits

Ether remains at risk of experiencing several on-chain liquidations.

ETH liquidation levels (DefiLlama)

Tech

Circle Upgrades Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol Promising Near-Instant USDC Settlements

CCTP V2 enables nearly instant USDC transfers between blockchains with new feature, reducing blockchain transaction times from minutes to seconds.

A CCTP demo at Circle’s Consensus 2023 booth in Austin, Texas (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Markets

Ether's Freefall Below $1.9K Roils DeFi, Jeopardizes Crypto Loan Backed by $130M in ETH

Falling ETH prices also threaten other DeFi loans, with potential liquidations that could further impact the token's price.

Storm clouds gather. (Shutterstock)

Policy

El Salvador Signs Crypto Regulation Agreement With Paraguay

El Salvador had previously entered an agreement with Argentina.

Juan Carlos Reyes of the National Commission of Digital Assets in El Salvador (CNAD)

Markets

No Bottom in Sight as Bitcoin Funding Rate Swings

Bitcoin perpetual funding rates turned slightly negative, reaching an annualized rate of -2%.

BTC: Futures Perpetual Funding Rate (Glassnode)

Markets

Coinbase to Launch 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures Trading in the U.S.

The exchange is also working on launching perpetual-style futures in the U.S. with long-dated expirations.

Coinbase app opening screen on mobile phone (appshunter.io/Unsplash)