Simmel is not only the founder of interpersonal communication, but also a pioneering media theorist, especially his “philosophy of money”. Standing at a transcendentalist standpoint, from the perspectives of formalism and relationism, he takes a phenomenological approach to see money as an exemplary phenomenon. He believes that money, which is increasingly disembodied, is the purest form of media function. From this exemplification, he pointed out the pure formalization and mediatization trend of modern society. Specifically, by analyzing the “before” and “after” of empirical science of money economics, to grasp the “logical premise” and “social and cultural consequences” of pure mediatization. Simmel’s legacy of media theory, though not without some scattered gleaners, seems to lack a heir. The contemporary significance of re-elaborating Simmel’s media theory lies in elevating media theory to the height of social theory, not only expanding the scope to “everything is a media”, but also transcending the media-centrism that emphasizes the technicality and materiality of media, but construct a non-media-centrism-oriented media theory that emphasizes the social and cultural nature of the media.