Circle, the world’s largest regulated stablecoin company powering global finance, has acquired team members and proprietary technology from Interop Labs, bringing the original developers behind the Axelar Network into its engineering organization.
Interop Labs CEO and co-founder Sergey Gorbunov will also join Circle, according to a company spokesperson.
Circle said the Interop Labs engineering and product teams include some of the strongest technical talent in the sector, naming Gorbunov directly as part of the acquisition. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close early next year.
The deal ties directly to Circle’s effort to make digital assets issued on Arc work seamlessly across multiple blockchains.
As stablecoin activity spreads across networks, Circle wants tighter control over how settlement logic behaves from chain to chain. This move pulls that capability in-house.
Nikhil Chandhok, Circle’s chief product and technology officer, said the company plans to support interoperability across a wide range of onchain environments, pointing to existing products such as USDC and the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol as reference points. Circle wants fewer external dependencies in its plumbing.
From an investor perspective, this is about infrastructure depth, not product sprawl. Circle is reinforcing the rails that let its stablecoins move cleanly between networks, a function that becomes more valuable as usage scales and compliance pressure increases.
The acquisition does not include Axelar’s open-source intellectual property. Circle said it is only acquiring Interop Labs’s proprietary technology.
The open-source components will transition to a new steward, Common Prefix.
Common Prefix will assume responsibilities previously handled by Interop Labs. Gorbunov said Axelar will continue operating as an open-source project, with ongoing coordination to ensure continuity and long-term support. Governance and roadmap decisions remain separate from Circle.
If you could take what we think of as money, make it digital and available on the internet, then that would dramatically change the way we use money and open up opportunity around the world. That’s the idea behind Circle.
Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman
Axelar’s technology, focused on cross-chain messaging, routing, and asset movement, stays community-driven.
Earlier this year, the Axelar Foundation disclosed the sale of $30 mn in AXL tokens to fund development and extend operational runway.
By drawing a clear line between proprietary assets and open-source code, Circle and Axelar are trying to avoid disruption inside developer communities. Collaboration remains possible, but ownership boundaries are explicit.
The timing matters. Stablecoin issuers are reinforcing infrastructure as US regulation starts to solidify. Congress recently approved a framework covering disclosure, reserves, and issuance rules for dollar-backed tokens, opening the door to wider adoption by banks and fintech platforms.
Ripple has made similar moves. Earlier this week, the company announced an expansion into Layer 2 networks to improve cross-chain functionality for its own stablecoin efforts.
he direction is obvious, even if the strategies differ.
Stablecoins now operate across a broad set of environments, including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Base, Arbitrum, and Cosmos-aligned networks. Ensuring consistent minting, redemption, and settlement behavior across those chains is becoming a defining competitive factor.
Circle’s acquisition suggests it wants that control firmly inside the company, not scattered across partners.
