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

Second Solana ETF Approved in Brazil

The product will be launched by Brazil-based asset manager Hashdex in partnership with local investment bank BTG Pactual.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Raphael Nogueira/Unsplash)

CoinDesk Indices

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: AVAX and NEAR Lead as Index Gains 2.2%

Avalanche surged 6% and NEAR posted a 4.6% increase as all but one asset recorded gains.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-08-20: leaders

Tech

Dark Pools Dominate Ethereum as Private Transactions Surge – at Least by One Measure

More transactions on the blockchain are getting routed privately as users try to avoid front-running bots that eat into trading margins, but network observers worry about a loss of transparency – and potentially a trend toward centralization.

More Ethereum transactions are going private, getting sent directly to validators in a so-called "dark pool" arrangement (Hubert Robert/Metropolitan Museum of Art, modified by CoinDesk using Photomosh)

Policy

Solana's Former Top Decentralized Crypto Exchange Faces SEC Securities Violations

Mango Markets' governing body is looking to offer a settlement to the SEC.

(Desirae Hayes-Vitor/Unsplash)

Policy

Australian Securities Regulator Nabbed More Than 600 Crypto Investment Scams in a Year

The hustles amounted to about 9% of the total fraudulent platforms taken down in the first year of an investment scam disruption program.

Sydney harbor. (Dan Freeman/Unsplash)

Policy

Crypto's Bet on Election Betting Expands to Solana

Perpetuals trading hub Drift protocol is adding a Polymarket-style prediction market – with some DeFi twists.

Donald Trump (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CoinDesk Indices

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: UNI Drops 5.8% as Index Trades Lower

NEAR and RNDR were also among the larger decliners in mixed performance for CoinDesk 20's top assets.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-08-19: Laggards

CoinDesk Indices

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: UNI leads with 3.8% Gains as Index Rises

Twelve assets in the CoinDesk 20 Index gained, with ADA joining UNI among the largest advancers.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2024-08-16: leaders

Finance

Goldman Sachs Joins Morgan Stanley in Holding Bitcoin ETFs as Institutional Interest Grows: 13F Wrap

Investment advisors held more than $4.7 billion worth of U.S.-based spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds as of the end of the second quarter.

Mathew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets for Goldman Sachs, speaks at Consensus 2024 by CoinDesk.(Shutterstock/CoinDesk)

Markets

Bitcoin Tumbles Back Under $58K as Crypto Quickly Crumbles Thursday Afternoon

The blame this time can't be laid on macro jitters, as stocks are up big again, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both more than erasing early August declines.

Crypto plunges in quick fashion (Unsplash)