OFAC screening for NFT projects

What NFT projects should screen when mints, sales, and royalties move value to counterparties.

TL;DR

TL;DR: NFT projects move value through mints, secondary sales, and royalty payouts. Screen the receiving addresses and counterparties before those payments settle.

Where NFT projects touch value

An NFT project settles value in several places: a mint sends tokens to buyers, a marketplace settles sales, and royalties are paid to creators. Each is a payment that could reach a sanctioned address, and OFAC strict liability applies regardless of the asset being a token or an NFT.

Screening mints and payouts

Before distributing funds, check the destination. sanctionsai.dev's sanctions_check returns ALLOW or BLOCK in under 100 ms against 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets and 19,218 SDN names. A flagged address is blocked before the mint or royalty payout settles, avoiding an irreversible transfer to a sanctioned party.

Controls for marketplaces

Marketplaces and launchpads should screen buyers and sellers at the point of sale. Use the 4-Gate Agent Payment Protocol of SCREEN, SCORE, STOP, STAMP, and lean on risk_score for borderline counterparties. Hourly-synced data across 16 jurisdictions keeps the check current as the SDN List changes.