KYT (Know Your Transaction)
KYT, or Know Your Transaction, is the practice of screening individual cryptocurrency transactions and the wallet addresses involved for risk indicators, in real time or near real time, rather than relying solely on one-time identity checks performed when a customer first signs up.
KYT (Know Your Transaction)
KYT, or Know Your Transaction, is the practice of screening individual cryptocurrency transactions and the wallet addresses involved for risk indicators, in real time or near real time, rather than relying solely on one-time identity checks performed when a customer first signs up.
What it means
KYT complements, rather than replaces, KYC. Identity verification at onboarding tells a business who its customer claims to be at one point in time; KYT continuously evaluates what that customer's wallets actually do afterward — every deposit, every withdrawal, checked against sanctions lists, risk labels, and behavioral patterns as it happens.
This distinction matters because a customer who passes KYC honestly can still later interact with risky counterparties, or a bad actor can pass basic identity checks using synthetic or stolen credentials. KYT is the ongoing layer that catches risk emerging after onboarding, which is exactly when most laundering activity actually occurs.
Real-world example
An exchange running KYT screens every incoming deposit address in real time before crediting a customer's account, flagging or holding deposits that show direct sanctions exposure or high-risk-exchange counterparty history, even for a fully KYC-verified customer.
Related terms
In FreezeRadar
A FreezeRadar scan is a KYT check applied on demand to a single wallet, giving the same category of screening a real-time monitoring program provides, without requiring integration into a live transaction pipeline.
By FreezeRadar Team
Research and product team behind FreezeRadar.
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