Range: How distribution data guides stablecoin strategy

One dollar peg supports several distinct products

A stablecoin balance is visible on a public blockchain. Its meaning is not. In Episode 10 of Range Stablecoin Fireside, Paula Pettit, VP Strategy and Growth at Range, spoke with Max Grabner, Head of Product at Range, about mapping five dollar stablecoins across Ethereum and Solana. The exercise began with a direct question: where are the tokens? Answering it required more than adding balances. It required identifying the exchanges, protocols and other entities behind the addresses. Public data establishes what moved and where it landed. Attribution explains the market structure behind those movements.

The five assets covered in the conversation were USDT, USDC, USDe, PYUSD and USDG. They share a dollar reference, but their distribution reflects different products and routes to market. As Grabner put it, "People think of them quite similarly. But actually, when you look at the data, they are quite different." The category label alone says little about how each token reaches users or where demand has formed.

USDe made that distinction especially clear. Grabner described a collateral structure built around a delta-neutral hedge, unlike the model behind the other stablecoins discussed. He also noted that its supply remained overwhelmingly on Ethereum. The point for issuers is broader than any single token. The chain selected for issuance, the collateral model and the applications that integrate the asset all shape its distribution. Range's view is that those choices determine which users can hold it, where liquidity develops and which operating conditions the issuer must watch.

Range's view starts with the regulatory and reporting requirements an issuer must satisfy. We translate those requirements into operational controls, orchestrate the risk and compliance providers the company already uses, then run transaction monitoring, reconciliation and reporting from the resulting record. Distribution data supplies critical context for that model. It shows whether the asset is concentrated in exchange wallets, lending markets, staking contracts or a wider holder base, allowing controls to reflect how the stablecoin is actually used.

Exchange concentration will change as use cases broaden

Crypto trading created the earliest large-scale demand for dollar stablecoins in Grabner's account, and centralized exchanges continue to hold substantial balances. That concentration is a product of the market's history. The dollar is already the reference currency for many traded assets, so dollar stablecoins became widely used in crypto trading, including perpetual markets. Exchange balances therefore describe a real use case, even when they do not describe the full direction of the market.

The growth rates may now diverge. Grabner asked and answered the key question: "Will crypto trading, perp trading grow with that? I don't think it will grow as much as stablecoin issuance." His expectation was that trading would continue while representing a smaller share of a larger stablecoin market. That is a shift in composition, rather than the disappearance of exchanges. Centralized venues can remain important entry and exit points even as payments, trade finance and other commercial activity account for more issuance. He pointed to an exchange gaining access to core US payment infrastructure as evidence that these venues can move toward the payments layer. Range's view is that the operating profile changes as that mix changes, even if total supply continues to rise.

The comparison with euro stablecoins sharpened this point. Grabner observed that euro-denominated tokens started without the same crypto trading base. Their issuers therefore had to focus more directly on payments, corporate trade finance and other uses. He saw a similar profile among smaller dollar stablecoins that were less established as trading pairs. Range's view is that stablecoin treasury management must distinguish between supply created for exchange settlement and supply created for operating activity. The same unit of account can produce very different liquidity, concentration and counterparty patterns.

Grabner also expected payment usage to rise as acceptance expands. He summarized the dynamic as "the more people who are accepting, the more people who pay and, you know, it's it's kind of a self fulfilling cycle." For teams using Range, each new venue can change the token's operating profile. Wider acceptance can spread balances across more counterparties and chains, while new integrations can introduce lending, redemption and liquidity dependencies. Growth should therefore be read through distribution and velocity, not supply alone. A change in usage can matter operationally before it becomes large enough to dominate a market-wide supply chart.

Issuers need change data, not a point-in-time dashboard

A snapshot provides a clear map of supply at one block. It also expires immediately. Grabner captured the limitation in a concise observation: "the next block, everything was different." Balances move, token velocity changes and concentration can rise or fall. A wallet can receive sanctioned funds and move them again between two observations. Range's view is that the snapshot establishes structure, while the changes between blocks reveal the events that may require a response.

For a stablecoin issuer, the practical questions begin with who holds the token and where it is active. In a lending market, the issuer also needs to understand borrowers, lenders and liquidations. Grabner explained that liquidations can create immediate liquidity needs and affect daily operations, especially while an asset is still building distribution. The same data also shows how competing stablecoins are entering markets, which venues have become crowded and where demand remains available. Those are product, liquidity and risk decisions drawn from the same underlying record.

The implications extend to issuers of real-world assets with more complex collateral. Grabner described a scenario in which a centralized exchange failure triggers large stablecoin redemptions, placing pressure on treasury markets. He argued that the effect could become more pronounced when the underlying collateral is less liquid than Treasury bills. Range's view is that real-time changes in onchain liquidity, redemption activity and holder concentration belong in the issuer's operating controls. They help finance and risk teams assess the pressure developing around an asset while decisions can still be made.

Continuous data becomes valuable when it reaches a workflow. Grabner described the goal as "actionable insights, not just like, okay, we made some dashboards." For teams using Range, the objective is a live system of record that connects an observed change to the appropriate review, policy or reporting action. A concentration shift, liquidation or new counterparty exposure should become a decision with context, ownership and an auditable result.

Attribution and regulatory certainty turn data into decisions

Public blockchains expose balances and transactions, but they do not automatically identify the entity controlling an address. Grabner described attribution as a layered process. Some protocol and exchange wallets are straightforward to identify. Other cases require examining funding sources, counterparties and repeated transaction behavior. "You can look at who they've interacted with, who they're funded with," he said. Round balances can add another clue when an entity manages multiple wallets in a consistent way. Range's attribution method treats repeated round-number holdings among exchange and institutional wallets as recognizable operational fingerprints. For teams using Range, useful attribution depends on combining evidence and stating the resulting confidence clearly.

Positive attribution matters because concentration without ownership can mislead. A cluster of addresses may represent one exchange, custodian or institutional holder. The same analytical work becomes more demanding for malicious addresses, where code similarities and transaction patterns can reveal behavior associated with phishing, smurfing or related activity. Range's view is that reliable entity attribution converts blockchain data into counterparty context. Finance, compliance and risk management teams can then understand who sits behind an exposure, distinguish separate addresses from a shared operator and decide how policy applies.

The conversation identified a second form of certainty: regulation. Grabner pointed to a clear difference in euro stablecoin issuance before and after MiCA, then connected regulatory clarity to payments, remittances and real-world asset activity. Grabner put it directly: "I think institutions, you know, they don't like rules, they don't not like rules, they like certainty." His argument was that defined rules give institutions a basis for commitment, which can support broader adoption across both dollar and euro stablecoins.

Grabner also framed blockchains as marketplaces where users should be able to transact in the currency they choose. For teams using Range, stablecoins moving further into payments and commercial settlement make identity and rules part of the same operating question. Range's view is that companies need a stablecoin operating layer that joins attributed counterparties, transaction context and explicit policy controls. That foundation supports growth across chains and venues without separating commercial decisions from compliance obligations.

Turn stablecoin visibility into operating control

Stablecoin distribution is useful when it informs where to issue, which integrations to prioritize and how to respond as liquidity or counterparty exposure changes. Range gives companies operating across stablecoins and fiat the intelligence and controls to turn those signals into daily decisions. The result is continuous visibility connected to the policies, workflows and reporting that govern the asset. See how Range supports stablecoin operations.

About Range

Range is the platform for companies operating across stablecoins and fiat. It gives finance, risk and compliance teams a real-time view of accounts, balances, payments, counterparties and transactions, with controls, monitoring, reconciliation and reporting in the same system. Learn more at range.org.

Want to appear on Range Stablecoin Fireside? If you are building with stablecoins and want a seat on the show, get in touch by email or on X.