Steve Aoki is one of the world’s most prominent DJs for a reason. This Grammy-nominated
artist and producer is best known for making high-energy tracks, throwing sheet cakes at his
audience during live performances (with consent), and collaborating with artists across a
uniquely wide range of genres, including an unlikely partnership with pop-punk act blink-182.
Aoki also holds the 2012 Guinness World Record for being the most traveled musician in
one year. That’s a reputation he continues to maintain today, with Billboard noting that he
performed more than 200 shows in 2023 alone.
However, he does more than break records—he breaks barriers, too. What stands out about
Aoki is that he’s confident, energetic, and creative. In completely going against the
“reserved” nature stereotypically expected from Asian-Americans like himself, he’s managed
to grow into a significant pioneer not just in EDM, but in other things he’s interested in as
well. That includes poker, esports, and even cryogenic preservation.
That’s because Aoki is, above all else, open-minded. He loves to experiment; in fact, he
admitted that record sales don’t matter to him. Instead, he measures his success through
more experiential means. Today, that heavily involves the use of emerging technology. From
AI to NFTs, Aoki is a serious early adopter who strategically leverages the newest tech to
innovate how he invests in businesses and even how he produces his tracks. Here’s more
on how that’s helped him break boundaries in music and beyond.
Spearheading tech-savvy business ventures
Aoki undoubtedly inherited his entrepreneurial spirit from his father, Rocky Aoki, a former
wrestler who also happens to be the founder of the popular Benihana restaurant chain.
Currently, Aoki runs his own record label, Dim Mak, sells clothing and other merchandise
through the related Dim Mak lifestyle brand, and even delivers pizza through the cleverly-
named company Pizzaoki. In recent years, however, he’s expanded his reach to emerging
tech spaces that revolve around Web 3.0.
His journey began when he started a private fund with the rapper Eminem (dubbed
“Eminoki”), which they used to make late-stage investments in then-new tech startups like
Uber, Spotify, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Aoki has also invested in the steadily rising world of
esports, specifically in Rogue. This global gaming organization, which trains its teams for
titles ranging from Overwatch to Counter-Strike, has competed in prestigious tournaments
like the ESL Overwatch Atlantic Showdown and APAC Premier. Given his interest in
longevity, Aoki has even invested in companies like the cryogenic venture CryoFX and
funded brain health research through the Steve Aoki Foundation. However, it wasn’t until
2018—which Wired calls “the year of the cryptocurrency craze”—that Aoki got into crypto.
The DJ, who was already an avid art collector prior to his crypto discovery, was particularly
enamored with the concept of non-fungible tokens or NFTs, which are unique, non-
interchangeable digital assets. His interest here led him to establish his own little corner of
the metaverse in 2022. The A0K1VERSE, which was conceptualized as a token-gated
membership community and is hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, gives Aoki and his fans
a new way to interact with each other. “Citizens” who own a multi-level A0K1VERSE
passport (which, in itself, is an NFT) have the opportunity to acquire unique benefits, with the
highest level offering passport owners the opportunity to record and release a record with
Aoki himself. The venture made the DJ one of the first in the music industry to adopt Web
3.0 technologies with the goal of enhancing fan engagement.
Popularizing NFT adoption in poker
Steve Aoki is also a poker enthusiast. He’s best known for hosting home games, organizing
charity poker events with Linkin Park, appearing on shows like Poker After Dark, playing
against pros like Phil Hellmuth, and even commentating for events in prestigious
professional tournaments like the World Series of Poker (WSOP). That’s probably why the poker industry’s biggest names reached out to him when they decided to integrate his
specialty—NFTs—into their offerings.
The WSOP was the first to introduce NFTs in 2021, when it collaborated with the WAX
blockchain to release a rare collection that highlighted the most iconic moments in WSOP
history. To entice collectors, the very first NFT auctioned off featured Chris Moneymaker.
The accountant-turned-player is famous for being the first to win the WSOP by qualifying
online, sparking the early ‘00s poker boom. Moneymaker became the main ambassador of
Americas Cardroom, the US’ #1 poker website, the same year his NFT was released. With
his legacy inspiring the website to create online promotions like the Sunday Moneymaker
and Moneymaker 2.0, which give winners opportunities to play in Las Vegas and replicate
his success, it’s clear why the WSOP decided to auction off his NFT first.
Not one to be left behind, the World Poker Tour (WPT) decided to offer NFTs soon after.
That’s why it signed Aoki, who was quickly becoming known as an NFT futurist, as its
newest ambassador in 2022. Here, the DJ helped popularize the digital asset’s use in poker
by advising the WPT as it began developing “a new look and feel” that centered around it.
The result of his contributions was Poker Heroes. Like the A0K1VERSE, this NFT club offers
exclusive perks to NFT owners. These include the chance to play in limited-access
tournaments with large prize pools, use member-only Discord servers, secure VIP entry for
the WPT’s live events, and even play against Aoki himself online, with the DJ using an NFT
avatar to verify his identity.
Transforming music production with AI
As a dedicated early adopter, Aoki has also embraced the use of controversial emerging
technologies like AI in music—within limits, of course. When talking to Billboard last year, he
shared that he openly used AI for lyrical ideation, and only when he and his songwriting
team get “stumped.” He also leverages the technology for sampling, such as for achieving “a
particular female sound using certain words.” Ultimately, he’s not worried AI will take away
his job as a DJ. “You just have to ride the wave with it and just start building safeguards as
we go,” he elaborated. “We’ve been doing this the whole time with the internet.”
That’s why it’s no surprise that, after releasing the song “My Life” with David Guetta in
January 2025, Aoki further cemented himself as one of the first and only artists in the wider
music industry to promote responsible AI use rather than shunning it altogether. Recently, he
invested in Music AI alongside other artists, including 3LAU, Alexander23, and Freddy
Wexler. The platform is best known for developing AI tools for music production. Moises, for
instance, can streamline the process of isolating or completely removing vocals and
instruments from a track. By investing, Aoki helped Music AI raise another $40 million for its
ethical AI efforts, which include its ongoing development of assistive music creation tools.
When all is said and done, Steve Aoki boasts more than just a lasting EDM legacy. He’s also
one of the biggest promoters of emerging tech, which he’s used to break boundaries in
business, poker—and, of course, music.
Keep reading here on The Indy Review for more in-depth features on artists across genres.
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