An anchor currency is a currency to which other countries link the value of their own currency (exchange rate), resulting in a (more or less) fixed exchange rate. This means that the value of the pegged currencies is highly dependent on the value of the anchor currency.

Examples include the Luxembourg franc, which was pegged to the Belgian franc before the introduction of the euro, and the Danish krone, which has followed the euro within a small range since 1999. Also, the U.S. dollar ($) is an anchor currency for many countries.

In more recent years, we have also gained the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) as an anchor currency. This was set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).