What AML means in crypto
Anti-Money Laundering. The term comes from banking, where regulators require financial institutions to screen customers and transactions against known criminal activity. Crypto is no different, even though it took a few years for the rules to catch up.
In crypto, AML screening works at the wallet address level. Instead of screening a person's name, you screen the 34-character or 42-character string they send funds from. The address carries a history: every transaction it has ever made, every counterparty it has interacted with, every list it appears on.
An AML wallet check reads that history and returns a risk score from 0 to 100.
What the check actually looks at
There are six risk categories in a standard AML report:
- Sanctions exposure. Direct or indirect contact with addresses on the OFAC SDN list, EU Consolidated List, UN Security Council list, or UK HM Treasury list. A direct hit produces a score of 95 or higher.
- Darknet market contact. Addresses linked to Hydra, AlphaBay successors, Mega, Solaris, and other dark markets. These wallet sets are maintained from law-enforcement seizure data and independent on-chain research.
- Mixer interaction. Contact with Tornado Cash, CoinJoin pools, Wasabi Wallet outputs, or seized mixer operations like Bitcoin Fog and Chipmixer.
- Ransomware. Addresses associated with known ransomware payment wallets, including Conti, REvil, LockBit, and their successors.
- Scam and fraud. Reported scam addresses, rug pull contracts, and wallets from exchange hack thefts.
- Exchange blacklists. Publicly disclosed freezes from Binance, OKX, Bitstamp, Kraken, and others. If a major exchange has flagged an address, that signal carries weight.
Direct match vs counterparty trace
The check runs in two stages. Stage one is simple: is this exact address on any of the lists above? If yes, the score jumps immediately to 70 or higher.
Stage two is more interesting. Most wallets are not directly on any list. But they may have sent funds to or received funds from addresses that are. The system traces the transaction graph up to four hops in either direction. A wallet that received Bitcoin from a mixer two transactions ago gets a lower score than a wallet that interacted directly with that mixer. Proximity matters. Amount matters. Frequency matters.
Why four hops? Beyond four hops, statistical exposure becomes indistinguishable from normal network activity. Bitcoin's transaction graph is densely connected. Tracing further produces false positives at an unacceptable rate.
Who actually needs this
The short answer: anyone who accepts crypto from a source they do not fully control.
P2P traders. You are buying Bitcoin on Binance P2P or Paxful. The seller sends from a wallet that briefly passed through a mixer six months ago. Your account gets flagged for receiving exposure. Running the check before confirming the trade costs 8 seconds.
Freelancers. A client pays a $2,000 invoice in USDT. They sourced that USDT from an OTC desk that did not clean its wallet. Your exchange account is now under review. The check costs $0.99 for a full report.
OTC desks. You are exchanging $50,000 with a counterparty you met through a broker. FATF Travel Rule obligations and your own compliance program require you to screen both the sending and receiving address before the transaction settles.
Exchanges and payment processors. Every incoming deposit needs to be screened. Automated API access is the standard approach at this scale.
What the score thresholds mean in practice
0 to 29: Clean. No significant risk flags. Proceed normally.
30 to 59: Caution. Indirect exposure detected, typically two or three hops removed from a flagged address. For a small P2P trade, this is usually acceptable with a screenshot saved as evidence. For a large OTC transaction, request additional documentation from the counterparty.
60 to 79: High risk. Exchange-level AML systems will flag incoming transactions at this score. Decline the transaction or require the counterparty to re-source funds from a clean address.
80 and above: Critical. This score typically means direct sanctions list contact or direct connection to a major darknet market. Do not proceed.
How to run a check right now
Open Telegram and search for @scorechain_amlbot. Send any wallet address directly in the chat. Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON, Solana, BNB Chain, and 10 other networks are supported. The basic risk score returns in about 8 seconds, at no cost.
For a full report with transaction graph, counterparty breakdown, and PDF export, the cost is $0.99 per address. The same API powers the check on this website.
What a high score does not mean
A high score does not automatically mean the wallet owner is a criminal. It means the address has measurable exposure to flagged activity. A freelancer might receive a payment from a client who bought Bitcoin on a shady OTC desk without knowing. That freelancer's wallet then carries indirect exposure for future transactions.
The score is a risk signal, not a verdict. How you act on it depends on the transaction size, your jurisdiction, and your own risk tolerance.
Frequently asked questions
What does a risk score of 0 to 100 mean?
0 to 29 is clean: no known exposure to sanctioned or criminal addresses. 30 to 59 is caution: indirect exposure detected. 60 and above is high risk: significant direct or close-proximity exposure to flagged wallets. Above 80, most exchanges will freeze incoming transactions automatically.
Do individuals need AML checks, or only businesses?
Both. Exchanges freeze individual accounts when they detect incoming transactions from high-risk wallets. P2P traders, freelancers, and anyone who receives crypto from unknown sources benefits from a pre-payment check. Businesses face the additional layer of regulatory fines if they process transactions with sanctioned parties.
What happens if I accidentally accept dirty crypto?
Your exchange account may be frozen pending a compliance review. You will be asked to provide KYC documents, proof of the transaction source, and a business justification. The process can take weeks. In some cases, funds are permanently confiscated if the exchange cannot verify the source.
How long does an AML check take?
The basic check returns a risk score in about 8 seconds via @scorechain_amlbot in Telegram or the web tool. The full deep report, including a transaction graph and downloadable PDF, takes 30 to 60 seconds.
Run a free AML check right now
Paste any wallet address into @scorechain_amlbot in Telegram. Basic result in 8 seconds, no registration required.
Open @scorechain_amlbot