Circle Acquires Interop Labs Team to Advance Cross-Chain Interoperability Strategy

Creating a Seamless Future for On-Chain Asset Mobility

Circle is committed to enabling digital assets to be issued and transferred securely, compliantly, and efficiently across more than one hundred blockchains. Realizing this vision depends on a robust interoperability infrastructure that bridges public chains, sovereign chains, and permissioned chains, minimizing settlement friction and asset movement costs.

Interop Labs Acquisition

(Source: circle.blog)

Circle has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Interop Labs’ core team and proprietary intellectual property, with the transaction expected to close in early 2026. This integration will allow Circle to incorporate Interop Labs’ technology and R&D capabilities directly into its product and infrastructure roadmap.

Axelar: Technical Background and Position

Interop Labs has played a pivotal role in Axelar’s development, working closely with the global open-source community to advance cross-chain messaging and token transfer technologies. Axelar is widely recognized as a leading solution for secure cross-chain communication frameworks.

Circle stated that bringing Interop Labs’ technology and talent onboard will accelerate several key initiatives:

• Arc: An open Layer 1 blockchain positioned as the “economic operating system” for the internet
• CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol): Circle’s core protocol for cross-chain asset transfers

Axelar Ecosystem Will Remain Independent

Circle highlighted that this transaction involves only the Interop Labs team and its proprietary technology assets; it does not include Axelar Network, Axelar Foundation, or AXL tokens.

Going forward, the Axelar network will continue under community governance. Existing open-source code will remain accessible, and the Common Prefix team will assume Interop Labs’ responsibilities within the Axelar ecosystem to ensure project continuity and stable growth.

Anticipated Benefits from Circle

With this acquisition, Circle aims to drive interoperability ecosystem growth in several areas:

• Accelerating asset issuance on Arc and enhancing interoperability across multiple blockchains
• Improving developer experience and SDK tools for multi-chain applications
• Expanding the speed and depth of Circle’s first-party application and service development

Team and Executive Insights

Sergey Gorbunov, CEO and Co-Founder of Interop Labs, expressed pride in Axelar’s achievements and looks forward to building the foundation for the next stage of cross-chain finance within Circle’s framework.

Nikhil Chandhok, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Circle, stated that integrating Interop Labs into Circle will significantly accelerate Arc and CCTP product development, positioning Circle as a central hub for multi-chain internet finance.

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Conclusion

By acquiring Interop Labs’ team and technology, Circle is clearly signaling that cross-chain interoperability is set to become the core infrastructure for the next phase of on-chain economies. While preserving Axelar’s independence and open-source ethos, Circle is integrating multi-chain interoperability as a core strength, paving the way for a more open and scalable on-chain financial ecosystem.