Quick facts

What it is

The Office of Foreign Assets Control is part of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted countries, regimes, terrorists, narcotics traffickers, and other actors. When OFAC designates a person or company, assets under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are generally barred from dealing with them.

Why it matters in crypto

OFAC publishes the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, and in recent years that list has included not only people and companies but also digital-currency addresses. Sanctions compliance applies to crypto businesses just as it does to banks, and OFAC enforcement can fall on firms that deal with sanctioned parties even indirectly. That is why exchanges screen transactions and why designations tend to ripple outward as banks and platforms cut ties.

Who runs it

OFAC is a Treasury office rather than an independent commission, so its direction follows the Treasury Department's. We do not name individual officials on this page because designations are issued by the office as an institution.

Recent moves

In August 2025 the Treasury targeted the Russian-linked exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex, along with the network behind the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5. Those actions are part of the pattern we describe in our coverage of the U.K.'s October 2026 sanctions on crypto firms tied to the A7 network, where the U.K., the U.S., and the European Union have each targeted different layers of the same infrastructure.

Sanctions also raise hard questions about technology itself. The Treasury sanctioned the Tornado Cash mixing service in 2022 and removed it from the list in 2025, a reminder that designation decisions for open-source software are contested and can be reversed.

Timeline

How it fits with the other agencies

OFAC is the enforcement end of U.S. sanctions policy, and it works alongside FinCEN, which writes the anti-money-laundering rules that help firms spot sanctioned activity. Banking regulators like the OCC expect their supervised institutions to screen against OFAC lists, and stablecoin issuers regulated under the GENIUS Act framework are expected to be able to freeze designated addresses.

Sanctions also work across borders. The U.K., the European Union, and the United States have each designated overlapping targets in the A7 network, with each government choosing different layers: the token, the exchange, or the payment processor. For a global crypto business, compliance means tracking all of them.

What to watch

Watch for new designations of exchanges and stablecoin networks, coordination with U.K. and EU authorities, and how stablecoin issuers handle freezing designated addresses. Related term: sanctions designation.

Frequently asked

What is the SDN list?

The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list is OFAC's public list of sanctioned individuals, companies, vessels, and, in some cases, digital-currency addresses. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with those on it.

Do sanctions apply to crypto businesses?

Yes. Sanctions obligations apply regardless of the technology involved. Crypto businesses are expected to screen customers and transactions and avoid dealing with designated parties.

How is OFAC different from the U.K.'s sanctions authorities?

OFAC enforces U.S. sanctions. The U.K. runs its own sanctions regime, and governments often coordinate. A designation by one does not automatically bind the others, but financial institutions frequently treat any major designation as a reason to cut ties.

Further reading

More profiles: SEC · CFTC · OCC · FinCEN · Fed · All of Who's Who · Glossary