Five years ago there was plenty of hype behind non-fungible tokens, those crypto-purchased, blockchain-stored digital works of art. But you don't hear much about NFTs these days, much to the dismay of people who bought some from Steve Aoki.
Aoki, who started out booking punk shows and became a world-famous DJ and cake-thrower, has been named in a class action lawsuit alongside DraftKings co-founder Matthew Kalish, Law.com reports. The suit alleges that Aoki and Kalish used their influence on social media to promote NFTs from the now-defunct Metazoo without disclosing that they were being paid to do so. Plaintiffs in the suit, led by Evan Berger, say they've suffered losses into the tens of millions of dollars.
Founded in 2000, Metazoo Games LLC started out selling a tabletop collectible card game but moved on to skateboards, clothing, and NFTs. At its peak, a set of all 10 versions of the Metazoo Coin NFT was going for 20 Ethereum, the equivalent of about $80,000 at the time. Berger says that, influenced by Aoki and Kalish's promotions, he bought and held onto at least 26 NFTs, believing they would increase in value. According to his lawsuit, the tokens are now worthless.
"There is a specific set of rules that are in place to protect consumers, and it's of great importance that influencers know and understand those rules, because they are requirements and not suggestions," Berger told Law.com. "There are a number of class actions now against viable companies where the same thing has happened."
Aoki, who has not commented on the lawsuit, became an equity partner in MetaZoo in 2021. The following year, they did a collectible physical card series for his HiROQUEST: Genesis album. Coincidentally, HiROQUEST 3: Paragon Remixed dropped Friday, with that cursed Hoobastank remix on the tracklist. (It's "for the Asians," he clarified on Stereogum's Instagram.) In 2022, Aoki said he'd made more money from NFTs than from 10 years of music advances.
Incidentally, Aoki was sued over the cake-throwing too.
