OFAC compliance for Web3 startups

A practical guide to what OFAC expects from Web3 startups and how to add screening without slowing growth.

TL;DR

TL;DR: Web3 startups face the same OFAC strict liability as banks, but can meet it with an automated screen. One HTTP call before payments keeps growth fast and exposure low.

What OFAC expects

OFAC, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, maintains the SDN List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. Any US person or company that transacts with a listed party violates the law, and intent is not required. For a Web3 startup that means every payment, whether on-chain or off-chain, should be screened before it settles.

Screening without slowing growth

Screening does not have to add friction. sanctionsai.dev returns ALLOW or BLOCK in under 100 ms, fast enough to sit in a payment flow without a noticeable delay. There is a free tier of 5 checks per day with no signup and no key, so a startup can validate the integration before committing. Paid plans scale from Dev at $19 per month to Pro at $99 per month.

Controls that fit a startup

Use sanctions_check before payouts, risk_score to review borderline counterparties, and dispute_open to handle false positives. The data set covers 19,218 SDN names, 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets, and 16 jurisdictions, synced hourly, so a small team gets live coverage without maintaining lists itself.