Compliance for the Programmable Economy

The programmable economy is where markets, transactions, and business processes run in software. In that model, compliance has to be applied consistently across all onchain activity. However, most blockchain products still handle compliance at the application layer. That means each app, smart contract, or integration has to implement its own controls. For businesses with multiple users, counterparties, products, and operational requirements, that model creates unnecessary complexity.

The Arbitrum Platform introduces a more practical compliance capability for businesses to define their policies at the infrastructure layer, and apply it across their dedicated environment.  In practice, that can include:

• sanctions and risk screening through the provider of their choice
• access lists that define who can interact with the environment or with specific smart contracts
• continuously updated restriction lists as policies change
• real-time reporting for audit, review, and operational follow-up

How it works

Your business remains responsible for compliance policy. You can select a screening provider of your choice, determine which addresses or entities should be restricted, define access policies, and decide how reports are handled internally.

Arbitrum provides the infrastructure to support policy enforcement. Once your policy is properly configured, the platform can be used to apply those rules in real time to transactions that attempt to take place onchain. This enables businesses to transition from fragmented application-level controls to a more consistent infrastructure-level model.

What businesses can configure

Arbitrum supports a set of controls that map to common operational requirements.

KYC, AML, and sanctions-related restrictions

Businesses can configure the screening logic, ranging from directly restricted addresses to broader exposure-based criteria, to fit their requirements. Those rules can then be applied consistently to transaction screening with less manual overhead.

Access lists

Businesses can define which users, teams, or counterparties are permitted to interact with the chain or with specific smart contracts. This can help businesses enforce their participation rules more consistently across the environment.

Continuous monitoring

Restriction lists can be updated dynamically as policies change, so enforcement remains aligned across transaction touchpoints over time rather than depending on periodic manual updates.

Dynamic reporting

Teams can export records of blocked activity and related transaction events to support audit logs, internal review, partner diligence, and regulatory reporting workflows.

Compliance lives inside the platform  

For regulated businesses, app-by-app compliance is often too fragmented to scale cleanly. Policy needs to be applied consistently and enforced before activity is finalized. That is how Arbitrum’s infrastructure supports the ability for businesses to be compliant.

The Arbitrum Platform gives businesses a way to define compliance policy once at the infrastructure layer, and operate onchain with control over access and risk. Your business defines the rules. The Arbitrum Platform helps enforce them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Arbitrum enforce for us, and what remains our responsibility?

Arbitrum Platform provides the protocol-level enforcement engine to control which users or groups can and cannot interact with your chain or specific smart contracts. Your responsibility is to define the rules of the road: you select your preferred compliance provider and manage your restricted address lists. 


What compliance controls can we configure?

You have full flexibility to define which actors can interact with your chain. This includes maintaining a restricted access list that identifies unwelcome actors, as well as setting custom compliance rules for specific scenarios, such as delegated approvals or asset-burning exceptions. These rules can be applied at the protocol-level so compliance is active before a transaction is ever finalized.


Which screening providers can we integrate with?

The Arbitrum Platform is provider-agnostic. While the platform is initially compatible with industry leaders like TRM Labs, the platform is also designed to work with providers like Chainalysis and Elliptic. Because Arbitrum uses a standardized data delivery method, you can route compliance intelligence to the third-party tool or internal risk system that best fits your workflow.


How does real-time reporting work?

Reporting is push-based and dynamic. If a transaction attempts to interact with a restricted address, it generates a detailed event report and sends it to your designated compliance endpoint. This eliminates the need for manual polling and ensures your team has the data you need the second a policy violation is attempted.


What happens operationally when activity is restricted?

The transaction is automatically rejected before it can be processed or added to a block. Simultaneously, a secure report is dispatched containing the transaction hash, the addresses involved, and the specific reason for the block. To help ensure that your audit trail doesn’t break, the system will retry delivery until your endpoint confirms the report has been successfully received.