I see it more like a phone number or postal address, which implicitly also identifies you. Maintaining it generally incurs costs one way or the other. Heck, even the mandatory renewal of national ID cards isn't free.
I believe that identity and identity attestations must be well-separated concepts. I am myself (identity), a government had issued me a passport for $name (attestation), and my friends know me as $nickname (another attestation), etc etc.
Third party attestations/endorsements can be based on any conditions, such as payments, behaviors, or whatever - that's up to third parties to decide. But those mustn't be my identity (because that way my identity becomes something a third party controls, and that's not how things are), they must only refer to it.
It's basically Web-of-Trust again (and I realize any attempts to build a digital one had failed so far)
Third party attestations/endorsements can be based on any conditions, such as payments, behaviors, or whatever - that's up to third parties to decide. But those mustn't be my identity (because that way my identity becomes something a third party controls, and that's not how things are), they must only refer to it.
It's basically Web-of-Trust again (and I realize any attempts to build a digital one had failed so far)