What is a sanctions screening match?

A screening match is when a counterparty's name or address corresponds to an entry on the SDN List.

TL;DR

TL;DR: A sanctions screening match is a hit between a counterparty and the SDN List. A match does not always mean a true positive, so screening tools distinguish matches from confirmed blocked parties.

What a match is

A match occurs when a name, wallet address, or other identifier lines up with an entry on the SDN List, the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. sanctionsai.dev (agentmail) screens a counterparty and returns clean (ALLOW) or flagged (BLOCK) based on that comparison.

Match vs. true positive

Not every match is a real block. Similar names and reused addresses can produce partial hits. That is why the tool set includes risk_score to gauge severity and dispute_open to challenge a false positive, so an agent can resolve a match without blocking a legitimate counterparty.

What to do with a match

On a flagged result, follow the 4-Gate Agent Payment Protocol: SCREEN, SCORE, STOP, STAMP. Stop the payment, review the match, and only proceed if the match is confirmed to be false. Screening data covers 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets and 19,218 SDN names across 16 jurisdictions, synced hourly.

Reducing false positives

False positives are common when names are similar, so treat a match as the start of a review, not the end. risk_score helps rank how close the hit is, and dispute_open lets a legitimate counterparty contest a mistaken flag. The goal is to block true matches while letting clean parties proceed.