PoW blockchain difficulty adjustment without timestamps

[Mikolo]

Found this suggestion to difficulty without timestamps:
https://ethresear.ch/t/thoughts-on-removing-timestamps-in-pow/1148
https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rwot6-santabarbara/pull/13/commits/822de593f2c8f33314b45b933f8f57ba74a4d54c
Gist is this:
The block reward algorithm is now modified to issue a coins into perpetuity (no maximum). Any given block can issue _up to_ `X` number of coins per block.
The number of coins issued per block is now tied directly to the difficulty of the block, and the concept of "epocs" or "block reward halving" is removed.
(Basically more difficulty more coins)
Can it work?