HostSTETH vs WETH — price, size and safety, side by side
STETH (Ethereum) vs WETH (Base) — every figure is the freshest dated measurement we hold for that token, never a live-feed guess. Prices stamped 2026-09-17T20:24:07 / 2026-09-17T20:24:07.
STETH vs WETH — normalized performance, 2026-09-08 to 2026-09-17T20:24:07
| STETH | WETH | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.51K | $2.40K |
| Market cap | — | — |
| 24h volume | $1.52M | $101.17M |
| Liquidity | $102.73M | $125.28M |
| FDV | — | — |
| Holders | — | — |
| Age (days) | 1,524 | 1,033 |
| Safety grade | B | B |
Where they differ
- WETH measures ~67× the 24h volume of STETH
- over the shared window STETH moved +1.45% while WETH moved −5.72%
What the data says
STETH
stETH is Ethereum's staking receipt, made liquid. Deposit ETH with Lido, receive stETH, and your balance re-bases upward daily as staking rewards accrue — the token that made staking tradable without the 32-ETH validator overhead. The contract at 0xae7ab96520de3a18e5e111b5eaab095312d7fe84 is the canonical deployment; our September 14, 2026 snapshot reads $102.7 million of tracked pool liquidity.
The honest complications: stETH is a claim on staked ETH, not ETH itself — it has traded under par before (June 2022, when withdrawal fears met a leverage unwind), and its value rests on Lido's validator set, Ethereum's exit queue, and the fact that redemptions, not market price, are what ultimately anchor it. A rebase token also confuses some wallets and tax tools — the count in your balance literally changes daily.
WETH
On Base, wrapped Ether isn't a token someone launched — it's part of the chain's factory equipment. The address gives it away: 0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000006 is a predeploy, one of the system contracts every OP-Stack network ships with at genesis, holding the same address on Base, Optimism, and their sibling chains. It wraps the network's native ETH into ERC-20 form one-for-one, redeemable instantly by anyone, with no owner, no admin keys, and no way to change it. HostDeFi's September 16, 2026 snapshot shows about $125 million of tracked pool liquidity and $69 million of daily volume riding it — and as the settlement leg of most Base DEX pairs, its real footprint is larger than any sample.
The checklist result is the same as for its Ethereum-mainnet ancestor, for the same structural reasons: supply is mechanically pegged to deposited ETH (minted on wrap, burned on unwrap), there is no privileged party to misbehave, and the wrapper adds no exposure beyond ETH itself. Holding WETH on Base is holding ETH on Base — with one extra layer worth naming honestly: assets on Base inherit the rollup's own trust structure, including sequencer operation and upgrade governance under Coinbase and the Optimism ecosystem. That is a property of the chain, not this contract, but "as safe as the chain it's on" cuts both ways.
FAQ
Which is bigger, STETH or WETH?
By tracked market cap: STETH (Ethereum) measures — and WETH (Base) measures — — dated snapshots, not a live feed.
Which is safer, STETH or WETH?
On the contract checks we publish: STETH (Ethereum) grades B and WETH (Base) grades B. A grade is a structural check on the contract, not a promise about the asset.
How have STETH and WETH performed over the shared window?
Between 2026-09-08 and 2026-09-17T20:24:07, the measured snapshots show STETH at +1.45% and WETH at −5.72%.
More comparisons
STETH vs RYYSTETH vs FKBSTETH vs CRDSTETH vs RDKWETH vs RYYWETH vs FKBWETH vs CRDWETH vs RDK
The grade column is the one CMC's compare page cannot print — our grade is computed from the contract itself (mint/freeze authority, liquidity, holder concentration). Changes are measured over the shared window stated on the chart, 2026-09-08→2026-09-17T20:24:07; a token with fewer measured points measures a shorter span inside it.
Figures are dated on-chain snapshots, not a live feed. Safety grades are structural checks — not investment advice. Free · no signup · a HostDeFi product.