Frequently Asked Questions

561 … The United States’ whole-of-government strategies to combat global threats such as terrorism, transnational organized crime, malicious cyber activity, narcotics trafficking, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation, and human rights abuses include targeting an array of activities,… Read more

562 … OFAC may add digital currency addresses to the SDN List to alert the public of specific digital currency identifiers associated with a blocked person. OFAC’s digital currency address listings are not likely to be exhaustive. Parties who identify digital currency identifiers or wallets that… Read more

563 … Digital currency addresses listed on the SDN List include their unique alphanumeric identifier (up to 256 characters) and identify the digital currency to which the address corresponds (e.g., Bitcoin (XBT), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Neo (NEO), Dash (DASH), Ripple (XRP), Iota (MIOTA),… Read more

594 … Yes, it is possible to query for digital currency addresses using OFAC’s Sanctions List Search tool. Users of the tool may search for digital currency addresses by inputting the hash value into the "ID #" field and then clicking "Search." The ID # field does not use fuzzy logic, so only exact… Read more

646 … Once a U.S. person determines that they hold virtual currency that is required to be blocked pursuant to OFAC's regulations, the U.S. person must deny all parties access to that virtual currency, ensure that they comply with OFAC regulations related to the holding and reporting of blocked… Read more

647 … An institution may notify its customer that it has blocked digital currency pursuant to OFAC regulations. The customer has the right to apply for the unblocking and release of the digital currency. To apply online to have the virtual currency released, please go to OFAC’s online application… Read more

422 … OFAC maintains other sanctions lists in addition to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list . The names on these lists may also appear on the SDN list when such targets have a blocking provision associated with them. However, when the treatment of sanctions targets is unique and stops… Read more

83 … All of OFAC's delimited files are described in OFAC's SDN data file specification guide and non-SDN data specification guide . In addition, OFAC published a tutorial on how to construct a basic relational database using OFAC’s delimited list files … How are OFAC's delimited files …

81 … The delimiter varies based upon the file type.  Files that end in .CSV have a comma delimiter. Files that end in .FF have a fixed width delimiter.  … What is the delimiter in OFAC's delimited files? …

88 … OFAC cannot give specific advice on how to design an automated system for downloading its sanctions list data. Many institutions solve this problem by setting up a scheduled download of the SDN List and other sanctions lists . These firms conduct their own risk assessments and decide how often… Read more