I think interesting option would be, to allow existing github users to sponsor new accounts of own friends/mentors.
For example, I could donate some STEEM and SP to utopian, and whenever someone who I am following on github will try to create an account, then his account could be created with my funds without SMS verification, even if his github rating would be low.
That would be a simplification for me, to invite my friends, without additional cost to utopian.
This.
This is a very nice idea @noisy! Let me think about it