Sanctions Screening

Sanctions screening is the control that checks customers, counterparties and blockchain addresses against official lists of sanctioned individuals, entities, vessels and jurisdictions. In crypto it works on two levels: name screening at onboarding and periodically thereafter, and address screening, where a platform compares deposit and withdrawal addresses with designated addresses published by authorities or flagged by analytics vendors. A confirmed match usually means the transaction is blocked and the relationship frozen and reported, because sanctions obligations generally apply strictly and regardless of intent. False positives are common with similar names, so screening systems are tuned and matches reviewed by staff. Lists change frequently, which is why platforms re-screen existing customers rather than only new ones.