How to screen stablecoin payments for OFAC
Screen the recipient wallet before every USDC, USDT, or DAI transfer with a single API call that returns a clear result.
TL;DR
TL;DR: Screen the recipient wallet against the OFAC SDN List before every stablecoin transfer. One API call, under 100 ms, is enough to get a clean (ALLOW) or flagged (BLOCK) result.
Step 1: Capture the recipient address
Before broadcasting a USDC, USDT, or DAI transfer, pull the destination wallet address from your payment flow. Do not rely on a saved address from a previous transaction; re-check it each time, because OFAC designations are added to the list regularly and the current data matters.
Step 2: Run the screening call
Pass the address to a screening API. sanctionsai.dev checks the wallet against 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets and 19,218 SDN names in a single HTTP call under 100 ms, returning clean (ALLOW) or flagged (BLOCK). The data is synced hourly from the US Treasury sdn.csv, so the decision reflects the latest list. A free tier covers 5 checks per day with no signup, and paid plans start at $19 per month.
Step 3: Act on the result and log it
- On ALLOW, proceed with the transfer.
- On BLOCK, stop the payment and do not retry through another address.
- Record the decision so the compliance trail is auditable.
Screening stablecoin payments is a pre-transfer gate, not an afterthought.
A free tier with five checks per day is enough to try the flow end to end before you wire it into production payments.