Firstly, let's address what ETH is, what wETH is and why anyone would be interested in swapping their ETH for wETH.
ETH (Ethereum) is the native cryptocurrency used on the Ethereum blockchain. With ETH, you are only able to interact with other Ethereum contracts. The use of ETH is limited because it does not follow ERC-20 properties so you cannot use ETH across different decentralized apps (DApp) and decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems. In comparison to ETH, wETH (wrapped Ethereum) enables you to trade across different decentralized apps (DApp) and decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems as it follows the ERC-20 standards.
The simple answer as to why people would want to swap their ETH for wETH is because it provides you with flexibility to trade across different chains.
Is there a difference in value between ETH and wETH?
No. ETH and wETH are valued at 1:1 so you will not be losing or gaining value of your ETH by swapping it to wETH and vice versa.
Now that we've addressed some important background information about ETH and wETH, let's get into the steps to swap your ETH for wETH on Rarible.
1. Click on your profile.
2. Click on: "Swap wETH."
3. A pop-up will appear that requires you to input the amount of ETH that you would like to convert to wETH. Fill in the top field ("You pay") to your desired price.
Please note that you are also able to unwrap your wETH by clicking on the icon shown below:
4. Click on "Convert."
5. You will then be led to a transaction confirmation page where you will need to confirm the transaction.
6. Once you have signed the transaction, your wETH should appear in your balance section on your profile.