An anchor is a regulated business that accepts deposits in one form and issues the equivalent in another. Deposit cash or a bank transfer, receive a dollar token in your wallet. Send the token back, receive cash or a bank payment.
Anchors carry the obligations the ledger cannot: identity checks, licences, local banking relationships and customer support.
One standard, many doors
If every anchor exposes its own custom flow, every wallet has to integrate each one separately. A shared interface for deposits, withdrawals, quotes and status updates means a wallet integrates once and reaches all of them.
Gleo's anchor directory is designed around that idea: each listing describes the corridors it serves, the methods it accepts, its fees and its limits in the same format.
What to look for
A trustworthy anchor publishes its fees before you commit, tells you which licence it operates under, settles within a stated time and redeems tokens at par. Gleo will list anchors only after checking those points; until then the directory runs in practice mode.