OFAC Wallet Screening Glossary Part 1
Foundational terms for checking cryptocurrency wallet addresses against OFAC sanctions lists before an AI agent sends funds.
TL;DR
TL;DR: Wallet screening compares a destination crypto address against OFAC's 947 listed wallets before any funds move. A clean address proceeds; a flagged address is blocked before the transaction occurs.
What wallet screening is
Wallet screening is the process of matching a cryptocurrency wallet address against sanctions lists published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). OFAC listings include wallet addresses tied to blocked persons and entities. A screening check reads the address, normalizes its format, and searches for an exact or fuzzy match against the current list. Because listings change frequently, screening must run against data synced hourly rather than a stale snapshot.
Why it matters for agent payments
An AI agent that moves money without screening inherits the full risk of a sanctions violation. OFAC applies strict liability, so a violation occurs even when the agent did not intend to breach the rules. A payment to a listed wallet can trigger civil penalties starting at $356,000 per violation. The sanctionsai.dev API returns a clean or flagged result in one HTTP call under 100 ms, letting the agent stop before it pays.
Terms covered in Part 1
- Wallet address: the public identifier for a crypto account.
- Sanctions screening: checking an address against blocked lists.
- False positive: a non-listed address that resembles a listed one.