Stellar Anchor
Crypto ProtocolA Stellar anchor is a regulated entity that issues assets on the Stellar network and provides fiat on- and off-ramps, bridging the Stellar blockchain and the traditional banking system.
An anchor is a business — often a licensed money-service business, bank, or fintech — that holds a customer's deposited fiat and issues a matching digital token on Stellar (and reverses the process for withdrawals). Anchors are the trust bridge that lets value move between the traditional financial system and the Stellar network.
Anchors implement Stellar Ecosystem Proposals (SEPs) so wallets and other anchors can interact with them in a standard way. SEP-24 defines the interactive, anchor-hosted deposit and withdrawal flow for individual users, while SEP-31 defines direct anchor-to-anchor cross-border payments between institutions. In a remittance corridor, a sending-side anchor converts fiat to a Stellar asset (often USDC), it moves across the network in seconds, and a receiving-side anchor cashes it out to local fiat.
This anchor model is what turns Stellar from a ledger into a payments network: the blockchain provides fast, cheap settlement, while anchors provide the regulated fiat endpoints and the KYC/AML compliance layer that real cross-border payments require.
Crypto Relevance
Anchors are central to Stellar's ISO 20022-adjacent payments story: XLM and on-network stablecoins move value between anchors, while the SEP standards fill the standardized-messaging role that ISO 20022 plays in traditional rails.
Get the institutional context, investment implications, and common misconceptions about Stellar Anchor — a When Moon 589 editorial deep dive for ISO 20022 investors.
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Join ISO 20022 investorsRelated Terms
SEP-31
SEP-31 is Stellar's cross-border payments API standard that defines how anchors send payments on behalf of customers using ISO 20022-compatible data structures.
SEP-24
SEP-24 is the Stellar standard for interactive, anchor-hosted deposits and withdrawals — a wallet hands the user off to the anchor's own web interface to complete KYC and payment details.
XLM Remittance Module
XLM's designated role in ISO 20022 is as the preferred network for remittance flows to emerging markets, using SEP-31 anchors and stablecoins.
FATF Travel Rule
The FATF Travel Rule requires that originator and beneficiary information must travel with crypto transfers above $1,000, structured in ISO 20022-compatible format.
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-01