OFAC screening for blockchain infrastructure
Node operators, RPC providers, and indexers are not exempt from sanctions risk and should screen the addresses they serve.
TL;DR
TL;DR: Blockchain infrastructure providers touch many counterparties, and OFAC does not carve out neutral infrastructure, so they should screen wallet addresses, entity names, and jurisdictions before enabling or routing value.
What infrastructure providers face
Node operators, RPC providers, and indexers sit in the path of transactions even when they do not move funds themselves. OFAC enforcement is strict: intent is not required, and penalties start at $356,000 per violation. A provider that knowingly (or unknowingly) facilitates a blocked transaction inherits real exposure, so screening the addresses and entities it serves is a practical control rather than an optional extra.
What to screen
- Wallet addresses: 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets are live in the screening data.
- Entity names: 19,218 SDN names from the US Treasury sdn.csv.
- Jurisdictions: 16 jurisdictions are tracked and synced hourly.
A practical approach
Infrastructure providers can screen with a single HTTP call that returns ALLOW or BLOCK in under 100 ms. Because the underlying list is synced hourly, the check reflects current designations instead of a stale snapshot. The same call fits into RPC middleware, indexing pipelines, and payment-relay code.