You should study how Cashu works. I think there's something with keysets there
Cashu still requires a central coordinator, doesn't it? I think iota tried to do it without blocks or a central coordinator. They called it a "tangle" or something. I didn't look closely, but it didn't survive. I think the network would become fragmented if it didn't have a rule like "longest sequence becomes source of truth" and then it all just boils down to PoW bring a requirement.