I'm interested. Look for posts by hozer at hozed dot org on the cypherpunks mail list if you want to figure out if I know what I'm talking about or not.
Now, one very important question:
What is your threat model?
Are you just trying to have anonymous transactions that are reasonably cryptographically secure from sophisticated individuals and security researchers who post how easy it is to track bitcoin? If so, I think ring signatures and the bounty may be reasonable.
However, if you are trying to be anonymous from law enforcement, organized crime, or intelligence services (just another form of organized crime), then this is quite a different story.
Our threat model is the first option you mentioned, we are trying to make Dreamcoin have anonymous transactions that are reasonably cryptographically secure from sophisticated individuals and security researchers who post how easy it is to track bitcoin.
This is why this bounty is extremely good and worth anyone's time really. If i was such a coder myself i would take up the offer. I saw your PM and working on a good response because its pretty genuine.
Waiting your response.