About Stable Tape
Stable Tape is the daily record of the onchain dollar economy.
Stablecoins trade around the clock. Stable Tape gives that market one governed daily reference point: 16:00 Europe/London.
At that time, Stable Tape records the market as it can be established from the available evidence, preserves the observation, and publishes a dated record. The point is not to pretend every source agrees. It is to make the basis, evidence and limits of the record visible.
01 / The daily record
What the record tells you
Every Daily Record is organised around five questions:
- RECORDED
- What the market looked like at the Close, including market supply and Onchain Dollar Share (ODS), which measures USD stablecoin supply as a share of US M2.
- CHANGED
- What changed from the exact previous eligible day when a same-basis comparison is available. This includes authenticated Move information and, where applicable, New on the Tape.
- BASIS
- The perimeter and measurement basis used for the record.
- EVIDENCE
- The observations and provenance that support the published result.
- LIMITS
- What could not be established, compared or safely published.
Underneath that public record, Stable Tape preserves Structure: the governed constituent state across assets, issuers and chains.
02 / The measurement
Why stablecoin measurement is harder than it looks
Two reputable sources can report different numbers for the same market. The difference may come from timing, scope, valuation basis, token identity, issuer mapping or later revisions.
Stable Tape does not solve disagreement by averaging unlike measurements into a single number. It records the governed observation and makes the basis of that observation explicit.
03 / The discipline
Preserve first. Interpret second.
Stable Tape keeps what was known at the time.
A published dated record is frozen. Later evidence may qualify, explain or correct the current understanding, but it does not silently rewrite the original record.
Daily comparisons are also strict. Move is based on an admissible exact D-1 → D comparison. If the required prior state or evidence is not available, Stable Tape does not substitute a nearby day and does not treat missing data as zero.
04 / The limits
What the labels mean
- NOT EVALUATED
- Means the result was not eligible to be evaluated under the governing rules for that record.
- UNKNOWN
- Means the available evidence does not settle the question.
- WITHHELD
- Means the conditions required to publish the result were not met, so Stable Tape does not present it as established fact.
These states are part of the record. They are not hidden failures.
05 / First observations
New on the Tape
New on the Tape records governed first observations of new assets, chain relationships, issuer relationships and related identity states.
First observed is not launch date. An asset may have existed before Stable Tape first observed it. The claim is about the record, not the asset's origin.
If identity is unresolved, Stable Tape can preserve that uncertainty and resolve it later without rewriting the original event.
06 / Independence
Stable Tape is independent.
Sponsorship has no role in observation, classification or admission.
Supporters may fund the work, but they do not control methodology, evidence standards or the contents of a frozen dated record.
Stable Tape is built and run by Chris McNicholas.