If you are looking for a community that is at the cutting edge of innovation in a proof of work crypto currency, Then I would suggest Monero. For example: We just funded a project towards the implementation of confidential transactions and multi signature transactions with Cryptonote ring signature anonymity. Not only is this extremely cutting edge but the project was funded by the community in approximately 9 hours indicating the strength and dedication of the community.
https://forum.getmonero.org/8/funding-required/2450/ring-ct-c-crypto. The paper on which this work is based is available here
https://www.overleaf.com/read/qzgytbyyxvyf. This is a community focused on building a cutting edge fungible and private crypto currency that also addresses the blocksize scaling issues in Bitcoin. The emphasis is on doing things right where mathematical rigor and peer review, take precedence over marketing.
Whichever coin and community you chose I do urge you to spend some time beforehand by doing you own research. This is what I chose to do before becoming a part of the Monero community.
