Important Notice
Deposits are not currently available for this coin.
WETH, or Wrapped Ether, is a tokenized version of Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network. It is pegged to the value of ETH 1:1 and enables increased interoperability between Ethereum and other blockchain networks by conforming to the ERC-20 token standard.
WETH works by "wrapping" ETH into an ERC-20 token. This involves sending ETH to a smart contract that locks up the ETH and mints an equivalent amount of WETH. This process allows the wrapped version to be used in various decentralised applications (dApps) and exchanges that require ERC-20 tokens. Users can unwrap WETH back into ETH by reversing this process through the smart contract, which burns the WETH and releases the corresponding ETH.
WETH has several use cases, particularly in the realm of decentralised finance (DeFi):
WETH was developed in 2017 to solve interoperability issues among different dApps and DEXs on Ethereum. The concept was proposed and implemented by teams like those from MakerDAO, 0x, and Gnosis. It gained immediate popularity due to its ability to make ETH compatible with ERC-20 tokens, which greatly enhanced its utility in DeFi applications. Over the years, WETH has become integral to liquidity provision and cross-chain interactions within the DeFi ecosystem.