Circle has signed an agreement to acquire key talent and technology from Interop Labs, core contributors to the Axelar Network. This move strengthens Circle’s crosschain infrastructure strategy and accelerates our vision for seamless, scalable interoperability at the core of Arc and CCTP.
At Circle, we are building a future where digital assets are issued easily and move securely, compliantly, and seamlessly across 100+ blockchain ecosystems. Achieving this vision requires foundational infrastructure that allows assets to flow and settle across general purpose, sovereign and permissioned blockchains without friction.
We’re taking a major step toward that future with a signed agreement to acquire the Interop Labs team and proprietary intellectual property. This acquisition is expected to close in early 2026, and we look forward to contributing to the broader interoperability landscape where opportunities align with our vision for an open, connected, and scalable onchain economy.
Interop Labs has been a leading contributor to Axelar, one of the most advanced frameworks for secure crosschain messaging and token transfer, and has collaborated with a growing community of open-source contributors to Axelar core development. By integrating Interop Labs’ talent and technology directly into Circle, we aim to accelerate key initiatives across Arc, an open L1 blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet, and Circle CCTP.
It’s important to clarify that this transaction solely concerns the Interop Labs team and their proprietary intellectual property. As the Interop Labs team transitions to Circle, the Axelar Network, Foundation and the AXL token will continue to operate independently under community governance and open source intellectual property will remain open source. Common Prefix, another contributor to the Axelar project, will take over Interop Labs' activities.
This agreement will allow Circle to:
- Accelerate our goal of making digital assets issued on Arc interoperable across numerous blockchain networks
- Expand the developer experience and SDKs for multichain apps
- Boost first-party app development
"We’re incredibly proud of what we've built with Axelar and excited to see our team and technology become a core part of Circle’s interoperability strategy,” said Sergey Gorbunov, CEO and co-founder of Interop Labs. “Together, we will lay the groundwork for the next era of crosschain finance. Axelar continues as an open-source innovator, and we are working closely with the Common Prefix team to ensure continuity and long-term support."
"Our goal is to make blockchain connectivity seamless, and bringing the Interop Labs team into Circle will accelerate the Arc and CCTP roadmaps toward building the hub for multichain internet finance,” said Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Circle. “Circle is committed to supporting interoperability with many onchain networks, just as we have with USDC, CCTP, Gateway, and other blockchain infrastructure products from Circle.”
Forward-Looking Statements
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