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Start with the country where you live or will use the exchange. Find the exact legal company named in its customer terms, check that company and the service it offers in the relevant official regulator register, then check your country’s official sanctions sources separately. These checks can show what public records say about an entity, its permissions, and listed sanctions; they cannot certify that the exchange’s internal controls are effective or that every transaction is lawful.
Which country’s rules should you check?
Begin with your place of residence and where you will access or use the service. Also note what you plan to do—such as exchanging crypto, holding it in custody, or transferring it—because the applicable rules can depend on the activity and the parties involved. The exchange’s incorporation address alone does not settle which rules apply.
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For some questions, you may also need to consider the exchange’s home jurisdiction or another jurisdiction connected to the service or transaction. The relevant authorities and legal tests differ by country. If more than one country may have jurisdiction, check the official sources for each rather than treating one country’s register or sanctions list as a worldwide answer.
How do you identify and verify the exchange’s legal entity?
- Read the customer terms. Find the company responsible for your account in the exchange’s terms, custody disclosures, or related account documents. Record its exact legal name, any company or reference number, website domain, and contact details. A familiar brand may use different companies for customers in different countries.
- Navigate to the regulator’s official website yourself. Open the regulator’s site and follow its link to the official register; do not rely only on a badge, screenshot, or register link supplied by the exchange. Search using the legal name or official reference number.
- Compare the register entry with the exchange. Check that the listed firm’s domain and contact details match the company you are dealing with. A similar name is not enough: it may refer to a different business or an impersonator.
- Check status and service scope. Read whether the entry is active and which activities or services it covers. Compare that scope with what you intend to use; an entry for a company does not establish that every service under its brand is covered.
- Check official warnings as well as the register. Look for regulator warning notices about the firm or a similarly named operation. Keep a dated record of the entity searched and what the official pages showed.
For UK consumers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) directs users to its Financial Services Register to search by firm name or reference number, review permitted activities and services, and compare contact details. UK financial regulators also point users to the equivalent register in an exchange’s home jurisdiction where appropriate.
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How do you check sanctions separately?
Use the current official sanctions authority and list or search tool for the jurisdiction that may apply. Search the exact legal entity name and known aliases. Depending on the law and facts, relevant checks may also involve owners or controllers, counterparties, locations, wallet addresses, or the transaction itself. The rules for assessing ownership, control, and other connections are jurisdiction-specific; a name search alone may not resolve them.
- A match is a reason to stop and establish whether the person, property, or transaction is actually covered by the applicable rules—not to assume that a similar name is conclusive.
- No match is not blanket clearance. It does not establish that every related entity, owner, counterparty, service, location, or transaction is permitted.
- Check the official authority’s current information shortly before acting. Programs, designations, and restrictions can change; an old article or static list may be out of date.
In the United States, OFAC says sanctions obligations for U.S. persons and others subject to U.S. jurisdiction apply whether a transaction uses digital currency or traditional fiat currency. Its rules include prohibitions involving blocked persons or property, including entities owned 50 percent or more in aggregate by blocked persons. These are U.S.-specific rules, not a universal ownership test for every reader.
What do a registration or license—and a clean search—actually prove?
Regulatory status, permission to carry on a particular activity, registration for a specific regime, permission to market, and compliance with sanctions are different questions. A register entry answers only what that register records about the named entity and its stated scope. It is not a public audit of internal controls or a certificate that every transaction is lawful.
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For example, FCA guidance says that registration does not itself establish eligibility for protection from the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman. UK rules also distinguish money-laundering registration from sanctions controls: the UK financial regulators say customer and transaction controls used to address money laundering can help with sanctions compliance, but additional sanctions-specific controls may be appropriate.
Likewise, a public search cannot show every control an exchange operates. OFAC’s virtual-currency guidance describes risk-based measures for businesses, including screening customers and transactions, geographic checks, and—in appropriate circumstances—wallet or IP-address screening and ongoing screening. The guidance is for industry compliance programs; it does not provide consumers with a way to certify an exchange.
Country-specific examples: the United States and the United Kingdom
United States: OFAC
OFAC organizes sanctions by program, and programs may be comprehensive or selective. Its program index provides program-specific update dates, so use the current official source rather than relying on a generic list of “sanctioned countries.” OFAC FAQ 1250, updated May 1, 2026, addresses Iranian digital asset exchanges and explains the treatment under the cited U.S. rules. That example illustrates why the relevant country, entity, and current rule matter; it should not be generalized to unrelated countries or exchanges.
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OFAC’s 2021 virtual-currency guidance recommends a risk-based approach for companies. It describes possible screening of sanctions lists and geographic information, along with customer, transaction, digital-wallet or address, and IP-address checks. Which measures are appropriate depends on the company’s circumstances and risk profile. This is guidance about business controls, not a consumer-facing approval or compliance badge.
United Kingdom: FCA
The FCA says certain cryptoasset services carried on by way of business in the UK require registration under the Money Laundering Regulations. It also says that merely having a UK client does not automatically mean an overseas firm is carrying on business in the UK. The FCA states that a new UK regulatory regime for cryptoasset firms starts on October 25, 2027; this is a UK-specific transition date, not a global deadline. Check the FCA’s latest materials before applying these rules to a particular service.
International standards: FATF
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) publishes risk-based standards and guidance for virtual assets, including licensing and registration, customer identification, secure information handling, and suspicious-transaction detection and reporting. FATF provides international standards and implementation context; it does not replace a country’s regulator register, sanctions authority, or laws. Its page lists the seventh targeted implementation update as published July 16, 2026.
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How should you compare two exchanges?
Apply the same checks to each exchange and record the date and jurisdiction. A single “sanctions compliant” claim or regulatory badge is not a sound basis for ranking them.
| Evidence to compare | What to establish |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | The exact contracting company and whether the brand uses different companies for customers in different countries. |
| Jurisdiction and reach | Your residence and use country, the company’s home jurisdiction, and whether the relevant regulator says its rules apply to the service. |
| Register status and scope | The entry’s current status, type of registration or permission, covered activities, and whether the contact details and domain match. |
| Sanctions exposure | Results from the relevant current official sources and any applicable restrictions involving ownership, control, geography, counterparties, or transactions. |
| Transparency | Whether the terms clearly name the service provider, regulator claims can be independently checked, and official warning notices exist. |
| Protection limits | What the registration does—and does not—establish about compensation, complaints, deposit protection, or recovery if something goes wrong. |
When should you stop and get specialist help?
- The terms do not clearly identify the company responsible for your account.
- The register entry is for a similar but not clearly identical entity, or its domain and contact details do not match.
- The register’s scope does not appear to cover the service you want to use.
- A sanctions search returns a possible match, or ownership, control, jurisdiction, or transaction restrictions are unclear.
Do not treat an unresolved issue as clearance. Ask the relevant regulator about register scope or consult a qualified sanctions lawyer for advice on how the applicable law affects the entity or transaction. This is especially important where multiple jurisdictions or ownership rules may be involved.
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