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Stablecoin Issuer Circle to Acquire Axelar Developer Interops Assets to Boost Crosschain Tech
The agreement involves folding engineers and IP into Circle (CRCL), while the Axelar network and its token will continue to operate independently.
Dec 15, 2025, 5:00 p.m.
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What to know:
- USDC stablecoin issuer Circle signed a deal to acquire the Axelar developer Interop Labs' team and intellectual property.
- The purchase aims bolster Circle’s multichain strategy for its Arc blockchain and cross-chain protocol.
- The deal doesn't include the Axelar network, which will continue independently under open-source governance with new stewardship.
Circle (CRCL), the firm behind the $78 billion stablecoin , said Monday it has signed a deal to acquire the team and proprietary tech behind Interop Labs, the company that helped build Axelar, a cross-chain messaging and token transfer network.
The acquisition, expected to close early next year, is aimed to bolster Circle’s tech stack to make digital assets easily transferable across multiple blockchains.
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Circle said the move will fold Interop Labs’ engineers and intellectual property into Circle’s ongoing development of Arc, its enterprise-grade blockchain, and the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), which enables the movement of USDC and other assets between chains without custodians or bridges.
The deal doesn't include the Axelar network itself, which will continue to operate under a community-governed, open-source model. Oversight of Axelar’s ongoing development will shift to Common Prefix, another contributor to the project.
Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies with prices anchored to fiat money like the U.S. dollar, are one of the fastest-growing segment in digital assets. They are increasingly viewed as a faster, cheaper alternative for cross-border payments, and could settle $1 trillion in payments volume annually by 2030, a Keyrock and Bitso report projected.
The acquisition comes as Circle, which issues the second-most popular stablecoin on the market, is building its payments-focused, proprietary chain Arc, currently in test mode. The company unveiled last month a foreign exchange engine, called StableX, that allows around-the-clock trading of currency pairs onchain.
"Our goal is to make blockchain connectivity seamless, and bringing the Interop Labs team into Circle will accelerate our Arc and CCTP roadmap towards building the hub for multichain internet finance,” Nikhil Chandhok, Circle's chief product and technology officer, said in a statement.
Read more: Stablecoin Adoption Is ‘Exploding' — Here's Why Wall Street Is Going All-In
