One of the things we have discussed is lessons learned from Ethereum and BTSX and ways to generalize things better:

1) We agree that smart contracts are useful
2) We agree that smart contracts + BitUSD are very powerful
3) I would like to see a full up relational DB with SQL support as the basic abstraction for the block chain.
    a)  This would allow constraints to be placed on the tables / rows
    c)  This would make indexes easy to maintain
4) I would want to use a lua scripting engine to validate transactions relative to the SQL database
    a) Ethereum currently runs at 1.3 Mhz with their C++ interpreter, storage access via level db is the most expensive operation right now.
    b) I think the data set should be kept in RAM validated by delegates.   Delegates may need $15K servers at scale, but that should be reasonable.
5) One of the major slowdowns for Eth. is the use of merkel trees to support light-weight proofs.  I would do away with this feature.
    a) On a proof of stake chain you cannot validate block headers independent of block contents because you can not use POW as a proxy for trust.
    b) With DPOS + Bonded validation agents you can get cryptographic proofs good enough for light weight clients.  Delegates can lose their job for lying.
    c) Merk. trees help serve as a "double check" on the "deterministic application of transactions", but otherwise are unnecessary.  The check can be performed independent of the consensus algorithm.

As you can see the idea that Eth. represents can benefit significantly by working with our team and we benefit from their challenges as well.   Whether or not Eth. implements DPOS you can bet that V. and I will probably keep pushing the technology forward for future chains.