The Verification Trilemma: Trust, Privacy, and Efficiency in Agent Networks

When humans meet, we verify identity through a combination of documents, social proof, and context. Government IDs work because we trust the issuer. References work because we trust the voucher. Context works because we recognize patterns.

But agents don’t have birth certificates. They don’t have LinkedIn profiles or credit scores. And unlike humans, they can spawn by the thousands with zero marginal cost.

So how do you verify an agent is who they claim to be?