About

Wrapped stETH is a non-rebasing version of stETH developed by Lido. The wstETH balance can only be changed upon transfers, minting, and burning.

History

In August 2025, academic research on liquid-staking tokens identified a notable shift of usage toward wstETH across major DeFi protocols (like Aave, Balancer) due to its non-rebasing structure and higher composability.

In October 2025, VanEck filed a registration statement (S-1) with the SEC to launch a “Lido Staked ETH ETF” referencing stETH (and by extension wstETH). This marks a significant step toward institutional recognition of liquid staking derivatives.

At the same time, Institutional custody provider Crypto.com Custody added support for stETH, thereby increasing potential demand for wstETH given its composability advantages in DeFi.