Verse Talks

Natalie Stone and Shane Lavalette: The next chapter of CryptoPunks, collecting against the trend and curation as the new PFP

Episode 46

This week we sat down with former General Manager of CryptoPunks and founder of StoneWork Natalie Stone, and artist, gallerist and broker Shane Lavalette. We unpack Stone's journey into NFTs, Node’s Punks acquisition, and the enduring passion of the community as well as the evolution of curation and collector identity, Shane's thought process when looking at an artist's body of work and the value of transparency and provenance.


00:30 - Welcoming Natalie Stone and Shane Lavalette 

02:44 - Stone's path into NFTs and her work with CryptoPunks 

06:40 - The significance of Node's Punks acquisition 

09:50 - The future of CryptoPunks under Node 

12:40 - The resilience and passion of the Punks community 

16:30 - Will there be another project as significant for the space

18:13 - First order of business for Node 

20:05 - How time has shaped community dynamics 

21:38 - The maturation of the space and collector curation 

24:00 - Curating as an expression of identity 

29:00 - Developing taste, the role of education and exposure 

32:40 - Notable collections and collectors 

34:55 - Shane's background in the arts and introduction to NFTs  

37:32 - The importance of brokering and advisory services 

43:24 - Creating space for emerging voices 

44:44 - Diving deep and collecting against the trend 

51:10 - Dream collecting, "if money were no object" 

52:28 - Shane's list in GrailersDAO 

55:05 - Balancing transparency with a simplified marketplace experience 

59:28 - The importance of provenance  

01:01:48 - Artist highlights 

01:07:37 - Verse Rundown 

Shane Lavalette: https://x.com/shanelavalette 

Stone: https://x.com/naughtaliestone 

bhare: https://x.com/bhareboy

0009: https://x.com/0009ine

Klea McKenna: https://x.com/klea_mckenna

Noah Kalina: https://noahkalina.com/chickencamera

Molly Soda: https://mollysoda.exposed

Ralph Lemon: https://www.momaps1.org/en/programs/377-ceremonies-out-of-the-air-ralph-lemon