1. Double Spend Proofs
Improves: Convenience, security, and transaction speed
BCH has "instant" 0-conf transactions. I think XMR might be able to achieve something similar (although maybe not as fast because of Dandelion++) since both don't have RBF. This would make 0-conf transactions safer for smaller amounts and the vast majority of use cases.
- https://bitcoincashpodcast.com/faqs/Tech/what-is-0-conf
- https://bitcoincashpodcast.com/faqs/Tech/what-is-0-conf#double-spend-proofs-dsps
2. ~~Decentralized Governance~~ Network Upgrade Consensus
Improves: ~~Decentralization~~ Wider reaching and more explicit consensus from Monero network for upgrades
So far, Monero's governance has worked out for it and there has been little to no contention with it's direction within the community. But XMRs governance is not as ideally decentralized as it should be. Again, I'm taking inspiration from another aspect of BCH that I think it does well. Their "CHIP" process, or a variation, is something XMR community should think about and consider adopting to make Monero more robust to capture.
- https://bitcoincashpodcast.com/faqs/Decentralisation/how-does-BCH-governance-work
- https://bch.info/en/chips
- https://gitlab.com/im_uname/cash-improvement-proposals/-/blob/master/CHIPs.md
- Example: https://github.com/cashtokens/cashtokens/blob/master/stakeholders.md
3. Client Side Validation
Improves: Privacy and scalability
This one was inspired by a BTC project called RGB.
"RGB can scale in terms of transaction throughput, data size and network size. It doesn't keep any data on-chain (in any blockchain)..."
"No chain analysis is possible due to the absence of a transaction graph in blockchain. RGB uses zero-knowledge to protect the history of a fungible state. With RGB, the user is always in-charge of when, and what parts of the history and state to disclose, if needed."
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- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3_lNNopDJ0 (skip to 38:10)
4. Succinct STARK proofs for Monero blockchain
Improves: Greatly reduce space and time required to sync a node
Another couple BTC projects that Monero might be able to take advantage of.
"Currently transactions specify inputs and outputs, and verifying an input requires you to know the whole state of the system. With Utreexo, the holder of funds maintains a proof that the funds exist, and provides that proof at spending time to the other nodes. These proofs are compact (under 1KB) but do represent the main downside in the utreexo model they present an additional data transmission overhead which allows much smaller state."
5. Opportunistic Encryption
Possible improvement: Privacy and anonymity for Monero node communication
I'm actually unsure if this would just be completely redundant for Monero nodes. But thought to mention it just in case. Maybe it can help hide any residual metadata between peers, or offer an addtional layer, that Monero might not already cover.
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0324.mediawiki
*I want to know your opinions on these ideas. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas from other projects that might benefit Monero too.*
DAI is unfreezeable and pseudonymous, digital fiat is not. It's a useful bridge.