Circle has announced the acquisition of the initial development team of Axelar, Interop Labs, along with its intellectual property, to accelerate its cross-chain interoperability strategy.

On December 16, Circle—issuer of the USDC stablecoin—announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the Interop Labs team and its proprietary intellectual property (IP). The acquisition is expected to close in early 2026. Circle aims to advance interoperability in the blockchain space, aligning with its vision of an open, interconnected, and scalable chain-based economy. Interop Labs has been a key contributor to Axelar, a leading cross-chain communication and token transfer framework, collaborating with the open-source community to drive Axelar’s core development. Integrating Interop Labs’ talent and technology into Circle will accelerate two core initiatives: - **Arc**: Circle’s enterprise-focused layer designed to become an economic operating system for the blockchain internet; - Cross-chain transfer protocols. Notably, the transaction only covers Interop Labs’ team and proprietary IP. The Axelar network, foundation, and AXL token will continue operating independently under community governance, with open-source IP remaining public. Common Prefix—another Axelar project contributor—will take over Interop Labs’ related work.