might still be worth loading profiles from a profile cache somewhere (like a relay/notecrumbs). if it can't load profile then it just falls back to rendering a profile pubkey? will add that next.
nost...
I used verification phrases and avatars generated from npubs as a way to be a placeholder image and also an easier way to verify user than npub string without relays.
https://github.com/5t34k/nowhere-avatars
https://github.com/5t34k/npub-verification-phrase
https://github.com/5t34k/nowhere-avatars
https://github.com/5t34k/npub-verification-phrase