Anchors: the gates

The rivers of the last chapter move ledger assets. But your salary sits in a bank. The bridge is an anchor: a regulated business that issues fiat-backed assets and runs the on/off ramps.

Hand an anchor dollars and it pays you equivalent tokens from its issuing account — the exact machinery you learned two chapters ago: an issuer, trustlines, auth flags for compliance. Redeem the tokens and it wires the dollars back.

Every serious fiat asset on Stellar stands behind a gate like this. Anchors are where the ledger touches the ground.