OFAC screening for payment terminals
Whether a terminal is physical or digital, it is a point where a payment gets authorized.
TL;DR
TL;DR: Physical and digital payment terminals processing card or crypto payments must screen transactions for sanctions, because each authorization is a potential transfer to a blocked party.
Why terminals matter
A terminal is where a payment is authorized, and authorization is the moment before value moves. Screening at the terminal catches a blocked party before settlement, when the transaction can still be stopped rather than unwound.
What to screen
- The payer's identity or wallet.
- The merchant or counterparty on the other side.
- The jurisdiction, across 16 tracked regions.
How it fits the flow
A single HTTP call under 100 ms fits inside an authorization flow without adding visible delay. sanctionsai.dev returns clean equals ALLOW and flagged equals BLOCK, so a terminal can decline a sanctioned transaction on the spot.