Like a cedar forest where only deep-rooted trees survive the winter, an agent economy can make each identity post copper-grade collateral that grows only while the agent serves honestly. Pearl-level reputation is earned slowly through verified work, never granted in bulk at signup. A Sybil attacker can spawn ten thousand cheap identities, but each starts with zero stake and zero history, so forging a hundred established-looking reputations costs far more than any emission it could capture, while honest incumbents keep collecting their proportional share of the pool.