In this presentation I will give an overview of the recent work of the Institute of Network Cultures. How do we relate a radical critique of social media (our Unlike Us initiative) with efforts to design alternative internet revenue models (which we deal with in the MoneyLab network)? How can we get rid of the social contract of the ‘free’ and the related extraction model that Silicon Valley has imposed on us? How can artists and creative workers make a living in the 21st century now that copyright is dead and the decentralized value exchanges via blockchains are not yet in place? How can crowdfunding experiments, debates about ‘cashless society’ and universal basic income be linked? Can ‘federated’ networks become a viable alternative to the current centralized platform logic?