INTERNET MONEY

Internet money is often described as something that can be “made.”

In practice, it is something that is routed.

Revenue does not appear because value is created. It appears when attention passes through systems designed to extract it. Content, products, services, and labor are inputs. Money is the residue left behind when those inputs align with an existing mechanism.

Online entrepreneurship is framed as independence, but it relies on platforms, marketplaces, and intermediaries that define visibility, reach, and viability. What looks like ownership is often conditional access.

Affiliate marketing is presented as leverage. It works by inserting attribution into a transaction the affiliate does not control. The affiliate does not sell the product; they sell the handoff. The commission reflects the value of the redirection, not the endorsement.

The gig economy monetizes availability. Skills are broken into tasks, tasks into listings, and listings into interchangeable units. Payment follows completion, not context. Continuity is replaced by throughput.

Across these models, effort matters less than placement. Timing, distribution, and compatibility with the surrounding system determine outcomes more reliably than quality or intent.

From a laundering perspective, money does not come from the internet.

It moves through it.