What you want is cryptographic Zero-knowledge proofs, not regular encryption. See anonymous credentials protocols.
And it does require every verifying entity to trust the issuer (each user could collect attestations from multiple issuers, to prove different things to different verifiers)
Another issue is the risk of deanonymization by verifiers simply asking for more proof of many different properties, until you can be identified anyway
A reminder that "cashback" credit cards are paid for by big fees on transactions which the store pays, forcing them to raise prices. It's literally anticompetitive
Yes - it's a signal that a large fraction of the population is mad, it's not the protest that does it but rather the fact that there's so many people involved in opposing the regime that it becomes difficult for the regime to act and easier for the population to find like-minded to fight back.
It's the willingness to act that makes a difference.
Rubber duck debugging