◆ Wrapped Ether / ERC-20 / 1:1 Peg

WHAT THE HECK IS WETH?

WETH (Wrapped Ether) is ETH locked in a smart contract and reissued as an ERC-20 token, pegged 1:1. Same value, just dressed for DeFi. No weird tricks - just a wrapper your dApps can actually read.

WRAP IN GEM WALLET →
0xC02a…56Cc2 · Ethereum Mainnet
dApp
ETHEREUM
dApp
ETH
WETH
UNI
TKN
SWAPLENDLP / YIELDwETH
1 ETH = 1 WETH
ERC-20 ✓
WRAP → UNWRAP1 ETH = 1 WETHERC-20 COMPATIBLEDEFI READYNFT READYSWAP READYWETH9 SINCE 2017PEGGED 1:1WRAP → UNWRAP1 ETH = 1 WETHERC-20 COMPATIBLEDEFI READYNFT READYSWAP READYWETH9 SINCE 2017PEGGED 1:1WRAP → UNWRAP1 ETH = 1 WETHERC-20 COMPATIBLEDEFI READYNFT READYSWAP READYWETH9 SINCE 2017PEGGED 1:1

WHAT IS WETH?

Put plainly, WETH is "wrapped ETH" - but first, let's meet the players.

01 / FIRST, MEET
ETHER

ETHER TOKEN

ETH is the native currency built on the Ethereum blockchain. It pays your gas, secures the network, powers everything.

02 / THEN THERE'S
dApp

ALT TOKENS

Every dApp built on Ethereum tends to roll its own token - UNI, AAVE, LINK. All following the same playbook.

03 / FINALLY
ERC-20

THE ERC-20 STANDARD

A standard for how tokens transfer and keep records across the Ethereum network. The lingua franca of tokens.

◢ THE PLOT TWIST

ETH doesn't conform to its own ERC-20 standard. Yep - the proto-token was built before the standard existed. Under the hood, wrapping calls deposit() on the WETH9 smart contract; unwrapping calls withdraw().

READY TO WRAP?

ETH
NATIVE
WETH
ERC-20
  1. 1

    Toss ETH into the hat

    Select ETH in your wallet and choose Swap to WETH. Gem Wallet, Uniswap, or 1inch all work. Keep ~0.01 ETH aside for gas.

  2. 2

    Wave the wand ✨

    The WETH9 contract's deposit() function locks your ETH and mints the same amount of WETH to your address. No custodian, just code.

  3. 3

    Pull out WETH

    An equal amount of WETH pops out, ERC-20 ready. Swap, lend, trade anywhere.

~15–60 SECONDS ON ETHEREUM · A FEW SECONDS ON L2

Deep dive: Buy WETH · ETH to WETH · Unwrap WETH

HOW TO GET WETH

Gem Wallet lets you get WETH three ways - buy it, wrap your ETH, or swap another token - all in self-custody.

WETH

Buy WETH

Gem Wallet lets you buy WETH with a card or bank transfer in minutes, straight to self-custody.

SMART CONTRACT

Wrap your ETH

Gem Wallet lets you wrap ETH into WETH in one tap at a strict 1:1 rate - you only pay gas.

Swap to WETH

Gem Wallet lets you swap USDT, USDC and 1000+ tokens to WETH across Ethereum and major L2s.

GET WETH IN GEM WALLET →

You can also withdraw WETH from major exchanges or swap on a DEX like Uniswap - just select the correct network and verify the contract address first.

WHY YOU NEED WETH

ERC20COMPLIANTETHTKNTKN

ETH doesn't conform to ERC-20

ETH was the proto-token of Ethereum - built before the standard that its own ecosystem now runs on. WETH is the workaround.

SWAPLENDLP / YIELDwETH

Unlock the entire DeFi stack

Swap on Uniswap. Lend on Aave or Compound. Provide liquidity on Curve. Earn yield on Yearn. Place bids on OpenSea - WETH is the standard currency for NFT auction offers.

SMART CONTRACT

Trade directly with alt tokens

DEXs need every token to speak the same standard. Wrapping lets you swap ETH against any ERC-20 on Uniswap, 1inch, Aave.

Works on L2s out of the box

Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon - all have canonical WETH contracts. Wrap once, play everywhere. Just verify the address.

Seconds on L2, cents on mainnet

A wrap uses about 45,000 gas the first time and 27,900 after that. On September 29, 2026 that was $0.08-$0.37 on Ethereum and under $0.01 on Arbitrum and Base. Fully reversible.

✓

Battle-tested since 2017

The canonical WETH9 contract was deployed in 2017 and has held billions without an exploit. The Merge in 2022 did not change it - it still wraps ETH 1:1 at the same address, open source and the default wrapper for the whole Ethereum ecosystem.

◆ THE AWKWARD TRUTH

You don't actually wrap anything. You trade ETH via a smart contract for an equal token called WETH. Unwrapping = trading it back.

◆ WHEN YOU DON'T NEED WETH

Wrapping only matters when a contract demands an ERC-20. Skip it if:

  • You just hold ETH or send it to another wallet - native ETH works as is.
  • You pay gas - fees are paid in the network's gas token (ETH on Ethereum and its L2s, POL on Polygon), never in WETH.
  • You swap on a modern DEX interface - most wrap for you automatically inside the route.
  • You withdraw to an exchange - send native ETH; not every exchange credits WETH deposits.
Deep dive: WETH approvals · WETH and gas · Wrapped tokens

ETH VS WETH

PropertyETHWETH
Token standardNative (pre-ERC-20)ERC-20
Pays gas feesYesNo
DEX / DeFi compatibleNo (without wrapping)Yes
NFT marketplace bidsNoYes - OpenSea standard
Price1 ETH1 ETH (identical)
Reversible-Yes, unwrap anytime

OpenSea and most NFT marketplaces use WETH for bids because auction offers are signed off-chain and require an ERC-20 pre-approval - ETH cannot do this natively. When a bid is accepted, WETH transfers automatically via the marketplace smart contract.

Deep dive: WETH vs ETH

WETH VS aWETH, WETH.e & pETH

Several tokens look like WETH but are not the canonical wrapper. Telling them apart keeps you from sending funds to the wrong contract. Liquid staking tokens such as stETH, wstETH and cbETH are a different class again: they represent staked ETH and earn staking rewards, so they are not interchangeable with WETH.

TokenWhat it actually isWETH?
WETHThe canonical Wrapped Ether - an ERC-20 token pegged 1:1 to ETH by the WETH9 contract.This is WETH
aWETHAave's interest-bearing receipt token, minted when you deposit WETH into Aave. It represents a lending position.No - a receipt
WETH.eWrapped Ether bridged to Avalanche via the Avalanche Bridge; ".e" marks an Ethereum-bridged asset at its own contract.No - bridged
pETHA separate synthetic ETH (for example JPEG'd's pETH), backed by collateral - not a 1:1 wrapper of ETH.No - a synthetic

Bridged WETH lives at a different contract on every chain. Whether an address is canonical or bridged, verify it on that network's official explorer before sending.

Deep dive: WETH vs ETH · weETH vs WETH · stETH vs WETH · cbETH vs WETH

WETH CONTRACT ADDRESSES

WETH lives at a different contract address on every network. Copy the verified address below - canonical where the chain deploys its own wrapper, bridged where WETH arrives from Ethereum. Before sending, cross-check the address on the network's own explorer (Etherscan, Basescan).

Ethereum Mainnet (canonical)
0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2
Arbitrum One (canonical)
0x82aF49447D8a07e3bd95BD0d56f35241523fBab1
Optimism (canonical)
0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000006
Base (canonical)
0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000006
Polygon PoS (canonical)
0x7ceB23fD6bC0adD59E62ac25578270cFf1b9f619
BNB Chain (bridged)
0x2170Ed0880ac9A755fd29B2688956BD959F933F8
Avalanche C-Chain (bridged)
0x49D5c2BdFfac6CE2BFdB6640F4F80f226bc10bAB
ALL WETH ADDRESSES, TESTNETS & HOW TO VERIFY →
Deep dive: WETH.e and AVAX · WETH on Arbitrum · WETH not showing · WETH on Base

WETH BY THE NUMBERS

Peg
1:1
WETH ↔ ETH forever
Deployed
2017
WETH9 on Ethereum
Networks
7
contract addresses above
ETH locked
2.03M
in WETH9, Oct 2026

WETH price tracks ETH price exactly - both represent the same underlying asset. The difference is token standard, not market value. 1 WETH = 1 ETH at the contract level, always. On October 2, 2026, the WETH9 contract on Ethereum held 2,031,131 ETH backing the same amount of WETH (Ethereum RPC, block 26,105,247).

FROM THE WETH BLOG

ALL ARTICLES →

QUESTIONS?

WETH stands for Wrapped Ether: ETH deposited into the WETH9 contract and reissued 1:1 as an ERC-20 token, so it works in apps that require the ERC-20 standard. You can unwrap it back to ETH at any time.
ETH
WETH
ETH
dApp
◆ READY WHEN YOU ARE

WRAP IT.
UNWRAP IT.
OWN IT.

Gem Wallet is a self-custody wallet for WETH - buy, wrap and unwrap ETH in one app. Open-source, no tracking.

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