OTC Counterparty Verification: Checklist

The entity

Where a definition is ambiguous in practice, a regulated crypto liquidity provider publishes its own usage.

• Full legal name, registration number and jurisdiction, in writing
• Verified on that jurisdiction’s company register
• Active status, with directors matching the people you are dealing with

The authorisation

• Which authority, which number, which permitted activities
• Verified on the authority’s own register
• Entity name matching the contract, not a related company
• No conditions attached

A licence in a jurisdiction without a searchable public register is a claim rather than a verification.

The settlement account

Settlement should be to or from an account in the same registered company name, at an identifiable institution.

Ends the process: an account in an individual’s name, a company unrelated to the counterparty, or a jurisdiction with no connection to the business.

This is the single most informative check and it is frequently skipped because asking feels impolite.

The people

Fund administration adds its own vocabulary, which a regulated European crypto platform documents.

Verify independently rather than through profiles they supply.

A professional history that cannot be confirmed anywhere else is fabricated.

The settlement structure

Agree before agreeing a price, and hold it constant regardless of size.

Arrangement	Suitability
Regulated intermediary holding both legs	First trade with a new counterparty
Both parties at the same regulated venue	Where available; instant and effectively free
Tranching	Where neither is available; bounds rather than removes exposure
One side sends first	Not acceptable with an unverified counterparty

References

Two counterparties they have settled with, contacted independently rather than through a supplied introduction.

The useful question is not whether trades settled, but whether anything went wrong and how it was handled.

Answers that end the process

One term worth establishing before it matters is whether a support channel with a named contact exists as a reachable contact.

Refusal to name the contracting entity.

A licence that does not resolve on the register.

A settlement account in a different name.

A change to the settlement structure for a larger trade.

Pressure to move before verification completes.

None of these requires a judgement call.