A phone number isn't an identity. It's a billing record with a SIM attached. Every time an app requires one to sign up, it's not verifying who you are. It's verifying who can be invoiced, traced, or cut off.
These are not the same thing.
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I found out today about this phone service provider that apparently requires only a zip code and payment method (can be crypto) to sign up https://www.phreeli.com/, covered in Wired 
WIRED
A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code
Privacy stalwart Nicholas Merrill spent a decade fighting an FBI surveillance order. Now he wants to sell you phone service—without knowing almos...
seems like this might not provide all that much privacy
How is an ID on this system any different?