What is WETH? Wrapped Ether versus native ETH

WETH means wrapped Ether. On Ethereum, the canonical contract issues the same amount of WETH as the ETH deposited. It lets native ETH work through an ERC-20 token interface. Wrapping is not staking and does not create an additional return.

Why use WETH when ETH already exists?

Ether is Ethereum’s native asset, not an ERC-20 token. WETH supplies the balance and transfer interfaces specified by ERC-20. Holding WETH alone does not earn staking rewards. The staking representation stETH and its wrapper wstETH are different assets.

Example

Alex wraps 1 ETH through the canonical contract and receives 1 WETH. Unwrapping that token returns 1 ETH, with network fees paid separately. Wrapping has not duplicated the original asset. If Alex wraps the entire native ETH balance, there may be insufficient ETH left to pay for the next transaction.

Is every WETH token the same contract?

No. Ethereum’s WETH explanation notes that other networks and applications can use different versions. Verify both the network and contract rather than relying on the ticker. On Ethereum, gas is paid in native ETH; a WETH balance is not automatically used in its place.