i keep seeing people push this like it’s the next big fix for everything. identity education jobs payments. all wrapped into one system. verify once use everywhere. sounds clean. but it doesn’t feel real when you actually think about it.
because nothing global ever works the way people imagine.
start with the basics. different countries don’t even agree on simple stuff. laws are different. standards are different. what counts as legit in one place might be useless somewhere else. so now you build this big system and try to force everything into one format. and guess what happens? some people fit. a lot don’t.
and those people just get pushed out.
then there’s control. nobody wants to say it out loud but there’s always control. even if it’s “decentralized” there are still rules. someone defines what a valid credential looks like. someone decides how verification works. if they change it you deal with it. you don’t really have a say.
it’s just less obvious than before.
tokens make it worse. everything turns into a reward system. you study you get tokens. you prove something you get tokens. do enough of the “right” things and you earn more. it sounds motivating until it turns into pressure. now you’re not doing things because they matter you’re doing them because they pay.
and people will game it. that’s guaranteed. if there’s value people will find ways to exploit it. fake progress shortcuts farming rewards. then the system adds more checks more rules more layers. suddenly it’s harder for normal people than it is for the ones exploiting it.
happens every time.
privacy is another mess. all your data tied together. identity history achievements. even if it’s encrypted it’s still connected. and once something is connected globally there are more ways for it to go wrong. leaks hacks misuse. you’re putting everything in one place and hoping it never breaks.
that’s a big ask.
and i don’t like the idea of everything being permanent. once your credentials are locked in and verified they follow you. everywhere. no clean slate. no starting fresh without dragging your past behind you. maybe that’s useful sometimes but it can also trap you.
not everything should stick forever.
the tech side isn’t helping either. systems don’t even work smoothly on a small scale. now imagine trying to run this across the entire world. different platforms different rules constant updates. something will always be out of sync. something will always fail.
and when it fails you’re the one stuck trying to fix it.
people say it reduces friction. maybe in some places. but it adds new problems in others. instead of paperwork now you’re dealing with broken systems failed verifications stuff not matching up. it’s the same frustration just in a different form.
there are a few good parts sure. not repeating the same identity checks over and over would be nice. having your credentials easy to access makes sense. that part is actually useful.
but it doesn’t need to be this giant token driven machine.
it just feels like overkill. like we’re taking a problem and building something ten times bigger than needed. and calling it progress.
i don’t need everything connected. i don’t need tokens for every action. i don’t need my life turned into a system that tracks and rewards every move.
i just want something that works. something simple. something that doesn’t break every time it scales. that’s it.