I think that identity verification "to protect the children" is a mistake. As a parent I know how hard it can be to keep kids safe online, and that having tools to help can make a big difference. But the potential for abuse by governments and corporations is too big of a danger.
If it is really possible to build systems that can verify age while preserving anonymity that would be a valuable tool. We will have to see what Discord offers here. Their first attempt burned a lot of the goodwill with their users, and at this point they will have prove they are serious about doing this right. One important thing that they claim they plan is that verification will be optional and only gate off age restricted content, that is much better than requiring age verification to access the platform at all.