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VASP Assessments

Bank-ready crypto business due diligence

High-volume crypto businesses like Virtual Asset Service Providers – VASPs – can’t be assessed using standard onboarding logic. Instead, they require a structured, bank-ready review framework. At Cense, we apply a carefully constructed due diligence methodology developed and validated together with leading financial institutions.

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client onboarding compliance for private banks

The Compliance Moment

Picture this scene. Your bank is considering onboarding or reviewing a Virtual Asset Service Provider. The questions that need to be asked are fundamentally different from retail or corporate reviews.
 
Is the trading activity structurally coherent? Does the flow behaviour align with the declared business model? Is there hidden routing risk? Are there indicators of market abuse or structural AML exposure? Can the outcome be defended internally and externally?
 
How would you get robust, defensible answers to those questions?

Where the traditional
approach breaks down

We know that VASP activity is characterised by a potent combination of extremely high transaction volume, cross-venue trading, internal routing structures, rapid inventory turnover and a multi-layered interaction between liquidity and profit.
 
In this context, simple wallet screening or risk scoring is insufficient, while fully automated assessment falls short as a result of data complexity and trading scale. So banks need a framework that combines structure with professional judgement.

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The Cense Approach

  1. Exposure Detection

    Through our continuously maintained crypto counterparty dataset, banks can reliably identify whether a client, account or transaction has crypto exposure. Licence status, jurisdiction and entity attributes are recorded and traceable. This strengthens the recognition layer before the application of any risk judgement.

  2. Portfolio-Level Reconstruction

    Instead of reviewing isolated transactions, we reconstruct the client’s full crypto portfolio across wallets and exchanges. Assessing Source of Wealth structurally, not transaction-by-transaction, we also analyse:

    • Total deposits and withdrawals
    • Trading history and holding patterns
    • Market-driven gains versus unexplained inflows
    • Behaviour consistency over time.
  3. Structured Decision Support

    Work with us and you’ll receive evidence-backed, audit-ready retail reviews that deliver:

    • A clear overview of exposure
    • A documented risk context
    • A substantiated recommendation (whether to accept, escalate or request additional information).

Governance and
defensibility

Cense strengthens your bank’s judgement and decision-making with outcomes that are evidence-backed, traceable, structured for internal committees, suitable for regulatory review and aligned with AML and market abuse standards.

The Cense Difference

High volume crypto entities like VASPs need more than screening. They require expert, structured interpretation within a bank-controlled framework. Here’s what the Cense difference means for your bank:

  • Strengthened governance alignment.
  • Reduced uncertainty when onboarding complex crypto businesses
  • Structured oversight of existing VASP relationships
  • Defensible internal approval processes
  • Clear documentation of review scope and findings

Baseline reports

Enabling fast, confident decision-making, our Baseline Reports deliver a clear overview of client crypto exposure including a risk score and Source of Wealth analysis, guiding teams on where to focus and how to escalate.

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Comprehensive reports

Our Comprehensive AML Reports include more in-depth analysis of your clients’ crypto holdings, with added AI interpretation to enable faster exploration and support your documentation process.

Read more about Comprehensive Reports

Talk to us.

See how Cense can support your VASP relationships.

Talk to an expert at Cense