Yes, but people typically want addresses to be identifying to _somebody_ otherwise they're not actually all that useful.
If I am Alice and know Bob, I want to know Bob's address. Using the cell phone number, an address I already have for Bob, solves that problem. Verifying the number via SMS provides some reasonable (but not ironclad) guarantees that it actually is Bob.
Yes, as an address scheme, it prioritizes convenience over other things. If you want wide acceptance, that's a requirement. Wide acceptance can be useful if you need to adopt something in a hurry and you didn't think to set up something in advance. It's also great because it isn't exactly great opsec to look different from the crowd, and using Tor is a giant "HI I AM DOING CRIMES" beacon to the world.
If I am Alice and know Bob, I want to know Bob's address. Using the cell phone number, an address I already have for Bob, solves that problem. Verifying the number via SMS provides some reasonable (but not ironclad) guarantees that it actually is Bob.
Yes, as an address scheme, it prioritizes convenience over other things. If you want wide acceptance, that's a requirement. Wide acceptance can be useful if you need to adopt something in a hurry and you didn't think to set up something in advance. It's also great because it isn't exactly great opsec to look different from the crowd, and using Tor is a giant "HI I AM DOING CRIMES" beacon to the world.