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That's not correct. You are talking about fiat ramps (to get "old" money in or out). If you mine or stake and get awarded and just use it within the ecosystem there's no need for "id verification". So saying "You cannot do anything with cryptocurrency without verifying your ID" is an overgeneralisation of "You cannot exchange other fiat money for cryptocurrency or visa versa without verifying your id".

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To add to your comments:

1) Mining is still possible with individual GPUs for certain cryptocurrencies (e.g. Ethereum), although you probably aren't making more than 50 cents per days.

2) Decentralized exchanges will let you convert any cryptocurrency to another (e.g. mined Ethereum to privacy centric coins and back again).

3) In addition to mining, earning crypto for work, and receiving crypto for payments, you can still buy crypto locally for cash.

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