I'm surprised PHP hasn't had this for a while. Isn't PHP nearly 20 years old? Is it common for web languages to grow so old before they get crypto in the standard library?
I do hope that - just like yourself, I am sure - the next significant step is more organically and proactively developed, and not treated (at least in the wider communtity's eyes) as a belated addition to a bewildered leviathan.
https://dev.to/paragonie/php-72-the-first-programming-langua...