Banca d'Italia Tightens Sanctions Screening for Italian Crypto Firms

The Banca d'Italia has issued a reminder to licensed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) in Italy, emphasizing that every crypto transfer must undergo sanctions screening, regardless of its value. The central bank instructed CASPs to remove any minimum transaction threshold from their screening systems, ensuring that small transfers are not overlooked.

The instruction is based on European Banking Authority guidelines that became applicable in Italy on December 30, 2025. Banca d'Italia wants to ensure that CASPs comply with the regulations and do not inadvertently allow sanctioned individuals to dodge controls by splitting larger sums into smaller transactions.

Sanctions compliance sits outside of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) licensing, meaning that a firm can be fully licensed under MiCA but still fall short on sanctions controls. CASPs must review their screening configurations and ensure that they are correctly configured to detect sanctioned individuals and entities.