[Circle Announces Acquisition of Axelar Development Team Interop Labs and Its Intellectual Property]
USDC issuer Circle has announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Axelar's core contributor team, Interop Labs, along with its proprietary intellectual property, with completion expected in early 2026. The integration aims to accelerate the advancement of Circle's Arc blockchain and cross-chain transfer protocol. The transaction only involves the team and proprietary intellectual property; the Axelar network, foundation, and AXL token will continue to operate independently. Common Prefix will take over work related to Interop Labs.