What is OFAC sanctions screening for wallets?

Wallet screening checks a crypto address against OFAC-listed wallets before you send any value to it.

TL;DR

TL;DR: Wallet screening compares a destination crypto address against OFAC-listed wallets and blocks the transfer if it matches, so you never send value to a sanctioned address.

Why wallets matter

Crypto transactions settle to addresses, not bank accounts, so the wallet is the identifier OFAC uses in the crypto context. The live screening data tracks 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets, and transacting with any of them carries strict liability: intent is not required, and penalties start at $356,000 per violation.

How the check works

A wallet screening call takes a destination address, compares it against the current list of OFAC-listed wallets, and returns a decision. Clean means ALLOW, flagged means BLOCK. Because the address list is synced hourly, the check reflects the latest designations rather than a cached snapshot.

Where it fits

Wallet screening belongs in the send flow, before a transaction is signed or broadcast, and inside agent payment paths where an AI agent pays on a user's behalf. sanctionsai.dev exposes this as a single HTTP call under 100 ms, with risk_score to add context and dispute_open to review a flagged address.