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Curiosity First. Signal Over Noise.
Episode 7
What Happened to the Modular Blockchain Thesis? w/ Dino (Fluent)
Rex sits down with Dino, co-founder of Fluent, to ask a simple but loaded question: what actually happened to the modular / “VM meta” everyone was so excited about? They trace how the narrative around modular blockchains went from red-hot to ice-cold, what still matters underneath the hype cycle, and why today’s real bottleneck isn’t infra anymore but product taste, startup execution, and culture. Along the way they talk about “price is the product,” the blurring line between good and bad actors, and why it’s so hard to attract serious builders who treat blockchains as boring backend tools rather than casinos. Dino also shares how Fluent and its Blended Builders Club are trying to cultivate “crypto Navy SEALs” and ship apps that normal people actually want to use, from creator markets to prediction platforms and new kinds of payments.
Episode 6
ZK, TEEs and Verifiable Compute w/ Vanishree Rao (Fermah)
Rex talks with cryptographer Vanishree Rao, founder of Fermah, about what verifiable compute actually unlocks—and why the real story isn’t “ZK eats the world” just yet. They get into ZK vs trusted execution environments (TEEs), how oracles really fail in practice, why restaking got ahead of real demand, and what a universal proof market like Fermah is doing differently. It’s a grounded look at the compute layer under rollups, oracles, and AI agents—and where the next wave of applications might actually come from.
Episode 5
Upgrading EVM Application Security w/ Bobafetador (Drosera)
Drosera just shipped to Ethereum mainnet after two years of grinding weekends, audits, and architecture debates—and in this episode we unpack what they’ve actually built and why it matters. Boba, co-founder of Drosera, joins Rex to explain how “traps” let smart contracts watch on-chain conditions and automatically react, turning Ethereum into a far more expressive, always-on system without bolting everything onto a centralized backend. They dig into Drosera’s “L1.5 bandwidth layer” design, how shadow forks and ZK proofs make continuous off-chain execution verifiable on Ethereum, and why decentralization isn’t just about more nodes—it’s about who can realistically run them. The conversation closes with a candid post-mortem on restaking: what the original vision got right, how the incentives went sideways, and why ZK plus lean, grassroots communities may be a healthier path forward than hype-driven “crypto-economic security.”
Episode 4
Why Are Vibes So Bad This Cycle w/ Fiddy
Rex sits down with Fiddy — DeFi “trench warrior,” Curve and Lido contributor — to ask a simple but uncomfortable question: why do the vibes feel so bad this cycle? They trace the arc from the 2020 DeFi summer through Do Kwon, FTX, and the meme-coin era, and talk about what happens when years of extraction, broken experiments, and aggressive speculation finally catch up with a still-nascent ecosystem. Along the way, they dig into how Twitter’s algorithm shift and the rise of easy online gambling have siphoned energy away from “builder crypto” toward pure conflict and get-rich-quick schemes. From there, the conversation zooms out: institutions like Stripe and major banks are quietly building on crypto rails, often in ways that don’t yet feed value back to DeFi. Is that net-bullish, or does it threaten the credibly neutral, censorship-resistant core that drew so many to Ethereum in the first place? Fiddy shares his view on Ethereum as an “infinite garden,” the evolving role of the Ethereum Foundation, and why, despite ugly vibes and broken governance experiments, he’s still deeply optimistic about the long-term cultural and technical trajectory of the space.
Episode 3
A DAT for Stablecoins w/ Colin Bulter (Mega Matrix)
In this episode of Signaling Theory, Rex sits down with Colin Butler, co-founder of Mega Matrix, a digital asset treasury (DAT) focused on becoming the world’s leading publicly traded stablecoin company. They dig into why stablecoins might be a multi-trillion-dollar market by 2028, how value actually accrues across the stablecoin stack, and why governance tokens and cash-generating protocols could offer very different return profiles than today’s “number go up” narratives.From Ethena’s USDe and the basis-trade stablecoin model, to novel structures like STBL and ideas like GPU-backed stablecoins, Colin walks through where he thinks the next wave of innovation will come from—and how DATs can serve as the bridge between DeFi and traditional capital markets. The conversation also zooms out to talk about UX, interoperability, the role of big institutions like JPMorgan, Stripe, and DTCC, and why rewiring global collateral and payments rails with crypto is both incredibly exciting and inherently risky.
Episode 2
Upgrading the MEV Supply Chain /w Drew Van Der Werff (Commit-Boost & Fabric)
Rex sits down with Drew Van Der Werff, founder of Commit-Boost and Fabric, to talk about the future of Ethereum block production: from validator autonomy and pre-confirmations to full-slot auctions, inclusion lists, and what a more robust PBS pipeline might look like. They dig into how Commit-Boost turns the validator stack into an “app store” for block construction, why derivatives on blockspace could actually stabilize Ethereum, and where TEEs fit (or don’t) alongside ZK. The conversation zooms out to the state of the Ethereum social layer, the role of the EF and client teams, and why Drew splits his time between cutting-edge protocol work and running a very real-world American machine shop.
Episode 1
Stablecoins: History, Mechanics, Policy w/ Sam Kazemian (Frax Finance)
Stablecoins, then and now. Host Rex Kirshner sits down with Sam Kazemian, founder of Frax, to trace the anthropology of stablecoins from seigniorage-share thought experiments and DeFi flywheels to today’s issuer platforms, “genius-compatible” collateral, and vertically-integrated payment rails. They unpack lessons from the Terra collapse, why Frax split payment vs. yield-bearing units (FRAX vs. sFRAX), and how issuance partnerships became the new Curve wars. The second half gets spicy: stock (TVL/yield) vs. flow (payments/settlement) business models, whether branded stables like Hyperliquid’s USDH make sense, and a pragmatic take on CBDCs (“good” vs. Orwellian versions), exit/rage-quit guarantees back to credibly neutral chains, and what real decentralization must withstand—both technically and societally.
Episode 1
Introducing: Signaling Theory
Introducing Signaling Theory, a new podcast by Rex Kirshner (LogarithmicRex). Signaling Theory cuts through crypto’s noise to find the real signals. Host Rex Kirshner joins builders, thinkers, and researchers who are shaping the space for deep, nuanced and informed conversations. Curiosity first, signal over noise. New Episodes every Thursday. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.