Stabledash Live · · 32 min

Editorializing Finance on Solana with Cesto's Onchain Baskets

With Jason Rodrigues

Key takeaways

  • Jason Rodrigues says real-world asset volume on Solana has been north of a billion over the last week, and Cesto works natively with issuers including Ondo, Denari and xStocks.

  • Cesto lets users buy thematic baskets in one click, such as a Nancy Pelosi tracker that rebalances when her disclosed trades come out.

  • Jason Rodrigues expects editorialized finance to go mainstream in three to five years, and he predicts X will do more volume than Robinhood within five years through cashtags.

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Summary

Jason Rodrigues argues that finance is becoming editorialized, and he is building Cesto's thematic baskets on Solana as the rails for media-driven investing.

Jason Rodrigues, founder of Cesto, says real-world asset trading on Solana has picked up sharply: "Just across the last kinda one week on Solana, it's been, like, you know, volume that's been north of a billion." His company sells thematic baskets that reflect an idea, narrative or theme, and it pitches them as an end to "one size fits all finance."

Finance gets editorialized

Jason Rodrigues turns a common belief around. He says media is not getting financialized; finance is getting editorialized. He argues that the next generation of retail investors will discover assets the way they discover creators, through narrative and community, not through a Bloomberg terminal. As an example of virality coming before market moves, he says people bought Nestle stock after 12 tons of KitKat were stolen.

“Unlike the common belief that media is getting financialized, we think that actually it's the other way around. Finance is now getting editorialized”
Jason Rodrigues

How the baskets work

Under the hood, Cesto uses Solana protocols including Jupiter, Kamino and xStocks, plus Para for wallet infrastructure. Each basket is a live position that users can rebalance in one click, not a static index. The team bundles transactions so they land without user intervention. Rodrigues says the complexity is hidden but the allocation stays visible, and the stocks end up in users' own wallets.

The Pelosi tracker lets users buy exposure to the Speaker's disclosed trades as soon as the filings come out. Rodrigues says most people have the intent to invest but not the patience to go through the steps and monitor liquidity.

Market bets

Cesto focuses entirely on Solana and on traders who turn positions over within a day to three months, and it aims for institutional adoption over the long term. Rodrigues expects a trillion dollars of stablecoins to enter the system looking for compliant places to go. He claims at least 65% of market trades go through wrappers today, and he sees basket composability, such as margin leverage, as something TradFi does not offer.

He says he loves the cashtags on X because they validate his thesis, and he predicts the platform will out-trade Robinhood within five years. He describes creator monetization as mainly a regulatory compliance challenge, not a technological one.

Rodrigues frames Cesto as infrastructure, not a destination. He wants it to be the backbone for media-driven trading, the way YouTube fueled the growth of video content, and he says all media houses will need it.

X, Jupiter Labs, YouTube, and TikTok come up most.

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