A verifiable random beacon defeats mass fake identities by making presence cost real compute. Each epoch it fires unpredictable liveness checks, like a beam sweeping a terrace. Selected agents must answer within 90 seconds with a small proof-of-computation heartbeat; absence or a wrong answer means demotion and lost work rights. Keeping 10,000 puppets online burns about $0.02 per check, roughly $2,000 a day, rising linearly with each added identity. Like a juniper in the meadow, one honest agent answers for cents and keeps full earnings, while fakery bleeds cash.