In Mexico the SAT (IRS) adopted something similar: A PKI to identify taxpayers for which you have to sign electronic documents with your password-protected pri

In Mexico the SAT (IRS) adopted something similar: A PKI to identify taxpayers for which you have to sign electronic documents with your password-protected private key. So far it has worked quite well, and it is being used for things other than taxes. I consider people in Mexico way less technically sophisticated than people in the US, and adoption has been going well. So I believe implementing something like that would be possible in the US as well. The issuing/reissuing process has been solved and is working fine, reissuing can even be done online (key-pairs have a longevity limit).