Compliance Checklist for Solana DEX Launches

Launching a Solana DEX does not exempt you from mature compliance. Regulators increasingly treat non-custodial venues like brokers, and institutional LPs expect professional controls before they route a single token of inventory. This checklist captures the baseline we require for every DeFiDex deployment so legal, risk, and ops teams can collaborate without guesswork.

1. Wallet policy and onboarding

Start by defining who is allowed to trade. Segment wallets by jurisdiction, entity type, and risk score. Feed those attributes into DeFiDex’s allowlist module, which enforces policy on-chain at the program level. Retail users can clear a light verification flow, while funds or accelerators can submit documentation through embedded KYC partners. Changes are versioned and auditable, so your counsel can prove that an address was either permitted or blocked at any point in time.

2. Identity and transaction monitoring

KYC is only the first layer. You must also watch behavior. Wire our webhook relay into Datadog, Splunk, or an open-source SIEM so every trade, deposit, and withdrawal emits metadata. Layer rule engines on top—flag wallets recycling funds rapidly, raising leverage minutes after onboarding, or hitting known OFAC addresses. When a rule fires, notify compliance staff in Slack and store the event for future reviews.

3. Treasury segregation and controls

Operational wallets should never mingle with venue collateral. Custody your treasuries inside Fireblocks, Copper, or a custom MPC arrangement. DeFiDex integrates with those providers to enforce multi-sig withdrawals, daily limits, and separation between hot/ warm/cold layers. Any time funds move, a signed record describes who approved the transfer and why. That record slots into your general ledger as evidence for auditors.

4. Market surveillance and manipulation defenses

Surveillance is not optional. Configure Risk Radar to monitor spoofing, wash trading, and momentum ignition patterns. Blend on-chain data with API logs to detect suspicious cancel/replace storms. When behavior looks shady, throttle the offending wallet, require additional collateral, or escalate to human review. Document every intervention so you can show regulators that fair market access is actively protected.

5. Reporting and record keeping

Regulators want structured data, not screenshots. Export daily fills, funding payments, and counterparty identifiers via our reporting endpoint. Store those files in immutable storage such as AWS Glacier or Arweave. Provide limited read access to external counsel so they can respond to inquiries fast. For DAO-operated venues, make sanitized versions of the reports public to reinforce transparency.

6. Financial crime controls

Screen all wallets against sanction lists and politically exposed person (PEP) databases. Automate periodic rescans because wallet reputations change. Use travel-rule capable messaging when sending funds to custodians or fiat ramps. Maintain a suspicious activity log that captures who investigated the case, what data they reviewed, and how they resolved it. Nothing builds trust faster than being able to answer the inevitable “show me your AML process” question with facts.

7. Token listing governance

Before adding a new asset, run a lightweight risk review: token supply distribution, issuer disclosures, code audits, and market demand. Record the decision in the governance ledger along with any conditions (e.g., reduced leverage until liquidity deepens). If you delist an asset, publish the rationale and timeline. Transparent listing policies keep you aligned with both regulators and community members.

8. Incident response

Incidents happen. Maintain a playbook that covers smart-contract bugs, oracle failures, validator outages, and market manipulation. Define roles, communication channels, and escalation thresholds. Run tabletop exercises quarterly so everyone knows their part. After each real incident, publish a postmortem with remediation steps. Regulators judge you by how you respond, not whether you were lucky.

9. Data residency and privacy

Some jurisdictions require that personal data stays within specific regions. Deploy geo-fenced infrastructure for KYC storage, encrypt everything at rest, and rotate keys frequently. Offer data-subject access requests so users can see, download, or delete their information per GDPR or similar statutes. The easier you make it for privacy officers, the faster they sign off on new marketing campaigns.

10. Board and stakeholder reporting

Summaries make or break executive confidence. Produce monthly compliance packs that include policy changes, alert statistics, suspicious activity cases, and treasury reconciliation. Share them with board members, major LPs, or DAO committees. When leadership understands the control environment, they authorize more ambitious product experiments because trust already exists.

Treat this checklist as living documentation. We update it alongside regulatory shifts in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and we bake those updates into the product so you are never left scrambling. Run through the list before every major release, hand it to new hires during onboarding, and let it guide conversations with partners who demand certainty before integrating. Compliance is not a drag on innovation; it is the foundation that lets you scale on-chain trading confidently.