How we built a PEP Screening API with 19,408 records and x402 payments

A team launched a free PEP screening API backed by 19,408 unique records ingested from Wikidata and OpenSanctions, covering politicians, judges, military officers and state-owned enterprise executives. The API uses x402 (HTTP 402) pay-per-call payments in USDC on Base at 0.01 USDC per request with no signup or API keys, and the team also released an MCP server exposing the screening as a tool for Claude and Cursor. The team said x402 lets AI agents pay for tools without human intervention and called MCP the emerging standard for AI tool integration.

We recently launched a free PEP Politically Exposed Persons screening API. Here's how it works and what we learned. The problem: Compliance teams need to screen names against PEP lists, but existing solutions are expensive and require enterprise contracts. We wanted to build something simple: a single API call that returns matches. The data: We ingested 19,408 unique PEP records from Wikidata and OpenSanctions. The data covers politicians, judges, military officers, and state-owned enterprise executives. The API: It's a simple GET request: text GET https://compliance-engine.boring-saas-infra.workers.dev/check/pep?q=Rosneft https://compliance-engine.boring-saas-infra.workers.dev/check/pep?q=Rosneft The payment: We use x402 HTTP 402 for pay-per-call. It's a new protocol that lets AI agents pay for API calls with USDC on Base. No signup, no API keys. Just send a request and pay 0.01 USDC per call. The MCP server: We also built an MCP server that exposes the PEP screening as a tool for Claude and Cursor. You can find it on GitHub. What we learned: x402 is a game-changer for AI agents. They can pay for tools without human intervention. MCP is becoming the standard for AI tool integration. 19K records is enough to cover most compliance use cases. If you're building compliance tools, feel free to test our API. It's free for 50 requests/day.