Build a privacy-preserving, decentralized age verification infrastructure — a zero-knowledge proof-based identity layer that allows users to cryptographically prove they meet age thresholds without revealing any other personal information, designed specifically for integration with decentralized social protocols. The system would issue verifiable age credentials stored locally on user devices, enabling platforms to check compliance without becoming data collectors, thus satisfying both regulatory mandates and decentralization principles.

Mississippi's age assurance law requires social platforms to verify user ages, creating an immediate compliance crisis for decentralized networks that fundamentally resist centralized identity verification. Bluesky has publicly stated it would block access in Mississippi rather than comply, highlighting a growing fracture between privacy-preserving decentralized architecture and state-level minor protection mandates. With bipartisan momentum building — evidenced by the Senate bill banning social media algorithms for minors and Pinterest CEO calling for government bans for users under 16 — platforms face an escalating patchwork of conflicting state and federal requirements. The cost of inaction includes forced market exits from major US states, massive fines, reputational damage from being associated with minor exposure to harmful content, and the impossible technical challenge of implementing age verification on systems designed to be identity-agnostic.