Phone numbers have become the de facto version of "Internet stamps" for identity verification.
They are near-ubiquitous on a per-user level, but hard to accumulate without significant cost. (Unlike email addresses.)
But the down side is that phone verification tends to be on a per-service level. So, for instance, Signal incurs these costs when they verify their users, and every other service incurs these same costs when they verify _their_ users.
There are a number of businesses out there that are trying to act as clearinghouses, where they verify the users once, then allow the users' verified profiles to be confirmed by multiple services.
I wonder if any of those could be used to reduce these "registration" costs.
They are near-ubiquitous on a per-user level, but hard to accumulate without significant cost. (Unlike email addresses.)
But the down side is that phone verification tends to be on a per-service level. So, for instance, Signal incurs these costs when they verify their users, and every other service incurs these same costs when they verify _their_ users.
There are a number of businesses out there that are trying to act as clearinghouses, where they verify the users once, then allow the users' verified profiles to be confirmed by multiple services.
I wonder if any of those could be used to reduce these "registration" costs.