Sanctions screening is the check of a name, an entity or a blockchain address against official designation lists maintained by governments and international bodies. In crypto it has two halves: the customer's identity against name lists, and the addresses they transact with against the addresses published in designations. It is the one control where a miss is not a commercial loss but a legal one.
OFAC treats a digital currency address as an identifier that can be attached to a designated person (OFAC FAQ 559), and its virtual currency guidance sets out that US persons must block the property of designated persons (OFAC virtual currency FAQs). The European Union maintains a consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to financial sanctions (EU consolidated list). In the United Kingdom the former OFSI consolidated list page has been withdrawn, and since 28 January 2026 the UK Sanctions List is the sole official source of UK designations (UK Sanctions List).
Screening against the right lists, for the right jurisdictions, is the whole job. A firm with USD, EUR and GBP banking relationships answers to all three of those regimes whether or not it is incorporated in any of them.
The reason this control is treated differently from the rest of AML is that there is no appetite to set. Other categories are risk you price, accept or decline according to a policy you wrote. A designation is a prohibition, applied whether the transfer was large or small, deliberate or accidental, and whether or not anyone at the desk had heard the name before.
A sanctions driver is named explicitly, with the designated entity named where the designation names one, and the network and date stated. It is the one category where the recommendation is not a matter of risk appetite: the result says Reject, and the next step belongs to your sanctions policy rather than to your commercial judgement.
The workspace keeps it as a case with an owner, an audit trail and a signed report. For a single address, the Telegram bot returns the verdict in seconds, free, three checks a day.
Every regime with jurisdiction over you, your customers or your banking relationships. OFAC ([topic page](https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/topic/1626)), the EU consolidated list and the UK Sanctions List are the common baseline for a business touching USD, EUR or GBP rails.
Yes. Digital currency addresses appear as identifiers on designations, in the same way an account number or a passport number does ([OFAC FAQ 559](https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/559)).
No. Names repeat, and an address can be designated while the name behind it means nothing to you. Screen both, confirm identifiers before acting, and document the match and its resolution.
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Current at the moment of the transfer. Designations are published on the authority's timetable, not yours, which is why saved counterparties are re-screened rather than trusted.
Send any wallet to the Telegram bot and get a verdict in seconds. Three checks a day, free, no signup. Desks that screen every deposit run it on plans from $199/mo.