Boilerplate
Copy-and-paste descriptions of PublicAML for your coverage.
PublicAML is a free, non-profit AML firewall that lets anyone screen a crypto address for sanctions and scam exposure before sending funds.
PublicAML is a non-profit initiative providing free, real-time AML screening for cryptocurrency addresses. It checks any wallet against OFAC and EU sanctions lists and verified scam databases before a transaction is signed, and is available via web, REST API, SDK and Telegram bot. No registration, no API key, no cost.
PublicAML is a non-profit initiative that makes AML screening freely accessible to everyone in crypto. Institutions screen every transaction as standard practice, because they can afford commercial KYT tooling. Individual users and smaller services screen nothing, because that tooling is priced per request and sold on enterprise contracts. PublicAML closes that gap: anyone can check a cryptocurrency address against sanctions lists and verified scam databases before signing a transaction, receiving a risk score, entity attribution, sanctions status and counterparty information. It covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain and TRON, and is available through a web dashboard, REST API, SDKs and a Telegram bot. Free, anonymous, non-custodial, non-profit.
Key facts
| Legal name | PublicAML Foundation |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit |
| Founded | 2025 |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Founder | Denys Deputatov |
| Chains covered | Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, TRON |
| Cost | Free — no registration, no API key required |
| Website | publicaml.org |
| Telegram bot | t.me/publicamlbot |
| API | intelapi.publicaml.org |
| Crunchbase | crunchbase.com/organization/publicaml |
| linkedin.com/company/publicaml | |
| X | x.com/PublicAML |
The problem we exist to solve
There is an asymmetry at the centre of cryptocurrency compliance.
Exchanges, banks and payment providers screen every transaction. Know Your Transaction (KYT) is standard operating practice for any regulated institution, and commercial providers serve that market well.
Individual users, self-custody wallets, OTC desks, DeFi protocols and small services screen nothing at all. Not because they don't care, but because commercial AML tooling is priced per request and sold through enterprise contracts. The cost of screening a single transaction is prohibitive for anyone operating below institutional scale.
Attackers rely on this. Stolen funds are not hidden in one place — they are moved through long chains of addresses, exchanges and bridges, and at almost every step someone downstream accepts those funds without checking where they came from. Each unscreened participant is a link in the laundering chain.
PublicAML's thesis is that screening should be a public good rather than a paid product. The more participants who check an address before sending, the fewer routes remain through which stolen funds can move unnoticed, and the harder laundering becomes for organised groups.
What PublicAML provides
Address Check
A web tool at publicaml.org. Paste any address and receive a risk score, entity attribution, sanctions status, source-of-funds information, counterparties and an explanation of the score.
REST API
POST https://intelapi.publicaml.org/v1/enrich. No API key required to start. Sub-100ms typical response. Free tier at 1,000 requests per hour.
SDKs
JavaScript/TypeScript (@publicaml/enrich), Python and Go, for pre-transaction screening inside wallets and applications.
Webhooks
Event-driven notifications when an address is flagged or a risk score changes.
Smart contract integration
On-chain screening for DeFi protocols.
Telegram bot
t.me/publicamlbot, for instant checks without any integration.
Community scam reporting
Users can submit reports of cryptocurrency scams and fraud.
Data sources
- OFAC sanctions lists
- EU sanctions database
- Verified scam databases
- Community-reported threats
Founder
PublicAML was founded out of direct experience with cryptocurrency theft and the recovery process that follows it — blockchain forensics, exchange compliance teams and international law enforcement. That process makes one thing clear: recovery is slow, expensive and partial, while prevention is a single check that takes under a second. No free tool existed to provide it, so we built one.
Note for editors: the founder does not discuss the specifics or value of personal losses. Interviews focus on the systemic problem, tracing methodology and the case for free screening.
Story angles
Suggested framings — we can provide tracing data, statistics and technical walkthroughs to support any of these.
- 1.
The compliance gap
Institutions screen everything; individuals screen nothing. Why the economics of commercial KYT leave retail users unprotected, and what happens when that changes.
- 2.
How North Korean laundering actually works
Stolen funds move through chains of unscreened intermediaries. We can walk through a real case, address by address, with tracing data.
- 3.
Compliance as a public good
What it means to run AML infrastructure as a non-profit, and whether free screening can achieve network effects that paid tooling cannot.
- 4.
Prevention versus recovery
What the asset recovery process actually involves — forensics, exchange compliance, mutual legal assistance, Tether freezes, competing claims — and why a one-second check beforehand beats a year of it afterwards.
- 5.
Developer angle
Dropping pre-transaction screening into a wallet or dApp in a few lines of code, with no key and no contract.
Verify our claims without contacting us
Everything below is publicly checkable. No key, no account.
curl -sS -X POST 'https://intelapi.publicaml.org/v1/enrich' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"addresses":[{"wallet_address":"0x67d40ee1a85bf4a4bb7ffae16de985e8427b6b45","chain":"ETH"}]}'The web tool at publicaml.org and the Telegram bot require no registration either.
Assets
The PublicAML name and logo may be used freely in editorial coverage. Please do not alter the logo’s proportions or colours.
PublicAML is a non-profit initiative. It does not charge for screening, does not custody funds, and does not require users to identify themselves.