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Copus: Turn your work into a network

Creativity has always been a network—we create by building on what others have made, by connecting one's ideas to others' ideas.

But copyright is based on the myth of originality, leaving contributors out of the narrative and telling us art is made in a vacuum.

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We're a team of creators initiating a new content standard: one that maps and monetizes creativity as a network.
What are creators doing on Copus
Online "Open Studio"

Fashion designer Zoe Huang uses Copus to showcase both her creative process and her designs. She connects her work to sources of inspiration and invites others to build upon her designs.

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Online "Open Studio"
Non-Linear Storytelling

Painter and poet Zhang Zhe published the book Here or There on Copus to transform the traditional, linear reading experience for readers.

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Non-Linear Storytelling
Creative Mind Map

Creative writer Anshool uses Copus to link his films, writings, and sketches into an open mind map. After publishing the piece below, he received a call from a friend who said, "I feel like I now know how your mind works."

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Creative Mind Map
Community Publishing

Creators on ComfyUI—the leading open-source generative AI platform—publish their workflow files on Copus, offering them as "Pay-to-Unlock" while seamlessly linking to the resources used to craft each workflow.

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Community Publishing
Core ideas
Core ideas
Creativity is connecting ideas
On Copus, content is not isolated—the ideas didn’t just come out of the blue. Each work is connected to the sources the creator pulled from, highlighting everyone’s creative process.
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Creativity is connecting ideas
Human-curated connections
Every connection is a deliberate human choice, manually added by creators. Your work is showcased alongside the work you connect to in a “Connections” section, giving it a new way to be discovered by like-minded audiences.
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Human-curated connections
Connect anywhere on the Web
Copus empowers you to break free from the trap of information cocoons and bypass platform algorithms. With the Copus browser extension, as you browse the Web you can: discover new connections, create connections, and curate them for your own webpage.
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Connect anywhere on the Web
Network economy
Not a platform, but an open network. When work that connected to your work earns, a share flows to you—with only a 1-cent transaction fee that rewards the participants decentrally powering these transactions.
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Network economy
Own the network through gifting
Copus is collectively owned by all creators and supporters through "the gift culture token" — $OPUS. $OPUS is distributed over time to those who create content, support creators, and share their earnings with others.
Own the network through gifting

Backed by Visionaries

Creators from

Investors

Angels

Garrett MacDonald
Founder, Permanent Ventures
Haijun Wei
Founder, GrandVC

FAQs

Who are the people behind Copus?
We are a team of creatives. Our founders are Handuo (filmmaker, media artist), Chao (musician, tech artist), and John (creative coder).  Read more
Why do I want to connect my work with others?
Copus transforms every webpage into a dynamic ecosystem of discovery through the Copus browser extension. By adding a “Connections” section (think of it as an algorithm-free, creator-curated “You May Also Like”), creators can seamlessly link their work to relevant content across the web. This turns any page into a gateway for exposure, directing targeted audiences from communities you choose—whether niche forums, established platforms, or rising creators’ sites—straight to your work.
But it’s not just about visibility. As a creator, you control the narrative: curate what appears in your “Connections” section, handpicking content that adds context, depth, or even alternate perspectives to your work. Imagine a musician linking their song to behind-the-scenes studio clips, fan covers, or even the poem that inspired it. This turns passive viewers into engaged explorers, guiding them through a story you design—beyond the confines of a single page. Read more
How is Copus different from other platforms?
Copus is not a platform; Copus is a network. Most apps try to trap you in their system so they can show ads or take a chunk of your earnings. Copus doesn’t do that. Think of us like a public park for ideas: anyone can share, explore, and connect without worrying about losing their work or followers. You’re always in control. Copus just helps build a new corner of the internet where curious people can discover things freely. Read more
How does Copus make money?
Copus runs on a system where tiny transaction fees ($0.01 or less) keep things working when creators connect their works with others. These credits create chains of payments—like dominoes—so even small earnings flow to everyone who helped along the way. To keep costs micro, Copus uses “Drip” (an on-chain credit tied to real dollars) and stores everything in a giant notebook (blockchain) that no one can tamper with. The goal? Let creators keep as much of their earnings as possible, avoid censorship, and let the community run things fairly (anyone can run a computer node to charge the transaction fee). But it only works if people play nice: will creators share credit (and a slice of their earnings) with other creators? That’s the experiment. Read more
How did you come up with the idea?
In 2020, I wrote a sci-fi story about everyday people joining forces to fix the world’s broken systems. Three writer friends and I turned it into an animated series, but studios rejected us—they only care about big names. So I tried something new: I opened the story up online, letting strangers add their own ideas. Over 15,000 people joined! A studio finally noticed us… but then stalled, waiting for approval from bigger companies.
That’s when I realized: the system is rigged. Why should a handful of people decide what stories get told? Why do so many creators get ignored?
Copus is our answer. It’s a way for creators to share work, get seen, and earn fairly—without gatekeepers. In a way, it is a continuation of the short story I wrote. Read more
Are you one of those crypto scams?
Being careful is always wise, especially regarding crypto! In our case, no scammer would invest years of product development and system design without yet seeing profit. We utilize blockchain technology for immutable data storage and will launch a token to distribute ownership of the project. You’ll discover the project’s authenticity when you explore it deeply—the details don’t lie.
What if Copus goes down, will I lose my content?
For Content Published Through Copus:When you publish work via Copus and toggle “Store on blockchain,” your content is permanently secured on Arweave—a decentralized, unchangeable blockchain. Think of it as a digital vault: once stored, your work can’t be altered, deleted, or lost, even if Copus vanished tomorrow. Use this for pieces you want to preserve indefinitely—art, writing, research—ensuring they remain openly accessible to anyone, forever.
For Content Connected via Copus:Already published your work elsewhere (like YouTube, Substack, or your own blog)? No problem. Copus doesn’t move or lock your content. Instead, the connections you create—links to inspirations, related works, or responses—are stored on Arweave. Your original work stays wherever you first shared it, but the web of relationships you build around it becomes part of a permanent, decentralized record.
Will you sell my work or use them to train AI?

We won’t use or sell your work. Only you can do that. Sure, it’s tough to stop AI from scraping stuff online entirely, but we’ll give you tools to protect your creations. Want total privacy? Mark your work “Private” so AI can’t find it. Prefer to get paid if AI companies want your content? Set it to “Pay-to-Unlock”—they’ll have to compensate you first. We’re also working on more anti-scraping features as we go, so you stay in control.

On the other hand, creating without using AI can get you left behind. So we’re experimenting on a personal AI assistant just for you—it learns your style only to help you create. More will come.