Glossary
wstETH
Lido's Wrapped stETH — a non-rebasing ERC-20 representation of stETH whose redemption value rises as staking yield accrues, used wherever rebasing tokens cause problems.
Lido's stETH is a rebasing token: balances increase over time as staking rewards accrue. Many DeFi protocols (DEXes, lending markets, bridges) cannot handle rebasing balances cleanly, so Lido provides wstETH — a non-rebasing wrapper where the balance stays constant and the redemption value to stETH (and ultimately ETH) grows.
wstETH is the dominant form of stETH used as DeFi collateral and in cross-chain transfers. It is also the more developer-friendly representation for any contract integrating Lido yield.