Hi I'm the CEO of Namebase. You're right that's the best way to bid anonymously on Namebase right now. We're also going to add the ability to bid anonymously directly on Namebase. The account verification is only required for purchasing HNS which we need to do due to regulatory restrictions in the US.

That makes sense, though I wouldn't expect it to be required when buying HNS with BTC. I signed up for the airdrop so I got a bunch of HNS I can play with, thanks.