Bubble
Wrapped stETH WSTETH
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) was trading at $2,315.23, ranked #17 by market cap at $8.50B, with 24h volume of $9.01M.
Data snapshot: 2026-08-03 09:00 UTC.
wstETH is a non-rebasing wrapper around stETH. Instead of a growing token balance, its price rises relative to ETH as staking rewards accrue — a design most DeFi lending and AMM contracts (built around fixed balances) handle far more cleanly than a rebasing token. It's the version of Lido's staked ETH most commonly used as collateral across lending protocols. wstETH is stETH with the rebasing removed: the balance stays fixed and the value per token rises instead. That sounds like a detail but it is a practical necessity — most lending markets and automated market makers cannot handle a token whose balance changes underneath them, so wstETH is the form that actually circulates through DeFi. Economically it is identical to stETH, and therefore to staked ETH. On this map it appears as its own bubble, but it represents the same underlying ether as stETH and ETH, not additional value.
What is the difference between stETH and wstETH?
Purely mechanical. stETH's balance grows with rewards; wstETH's balance is fixed and its value per token grows instead. The underlying claim is the same.
Why is the wrapped version needed?
Most DeFi contracts assume balances do not change on their own. A rebasing token breaks that assumption, so a fixed-balance wrapper is required for lending and liquidity pools.
Does wstETH's price rise against ETH over time?
Yes, by design, because it accrues staking rewards inside the token rather than paying them out as extra units.
Should its market cap be added to ETH's?
No. It represents ether that is already counted in ETH's supply. Adding both would double-count the same asset.
Market cap decides how big a bubble is drawn, so rank is what places WSTETH on the map relative to the rest of its sector.
| Rank | Coin | Market cap |
|---|---|---|
| #10 | Lido Staked Ether (STETH) | $17.52B |
| #17 | Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) | $8.50B |
| #19 | Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) | $7.40B |
| #21 | Wrapped Beacon ETH (WBETH) | $6.91B |
| #183 | EigenCloud (EIGEN) | $180.31M |