Why did the club’s latest move cause the price of the accelerator to drop?
Stablecoin issuer Circle has acquired Interop Labs, the original developer of the Acceler Network.
This agreement excludes the Axelar Network, Foundation and AXL Token, which will continue to operate independently. Common Prefix assumes development responsibilities.
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Interp lab team and the club to bring technology at home
Interlabs Group and the company behind the second largest stablecoin, USDC, have entered into an agreement to acquire proprietary technology.
The stablecoin issuer plans to accelerate this group's development on the Arc blockchain and Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). Circle said it expects the acquisition to close in early 2026.
“Our goal is to make blockchain connectivity seamless, and bringing the Interop Labs team to Circle accelerates Arc and CCTP's roadmaps to build a multi-chain internet finance hub,” said Nikhil Chandhok, chief product and technology officer at Circle.
Meanwhile, both Circle and Interop Labs emphasized that the deal does not include Acceler's network.
“As the Interp Labs team transitions to Circle, the Axel Network, the Foundation and the AXL token will continue to operate independently under community management, and the open source intellectual property will remain open source,” Circle added.
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Common Prefix, a longtime contributor to the Axelar Network, now leads the network's development. In a recent X (formerly Twitter) post, the team outlined the major issues for 2026.
Focus areas for 2026 include expanding Acceler with new protocols and asset classes, moving away from operating chains, consolidating blue-chip assets to strengthen economic security, preparing the network for institutional use, improving privacy and compliance, and exploring gasless bridging using zero-fee capital transfers.
“Common Prefix is a team of scientists and engineers. Our scientists are post-docs, PhDs, and professors with strong educational backgrounds from prestigious universities around the world. We are an unapologetically multi-chain team, with deep expertise in Ethereum, XRP Ledger, Sui, Solana, Cosmos, and Bitcoin (which we co-invented in different BitMMs, different twins). It can be used for a variety of purposes. Acceler's interoperability layer is an important part of enabling them to communicate, the team explained.
Market response and community concerns
The market reacted quickly to the news of the acquisition. The price of the AXL token fell, extending its broader downtrend. At the time of writing, the altcoin was traded at $0.11. This represented a decline of nearly 13% over the previous day.
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However, it is important to note that the decline is not isolated. In the past day, it has a wide cryptocurrency market As the main assets decreased by about 4% Bitcoin and Ethereum in red.
The move has raised concerns among some sections of society. Crypto analyst Nick described the deal as “very worrying” for XL holders.
“Being an AXL holder/promoter myself, I feel like I've been used in a very predatory way here. AXL as a monetization tool to build a platform like retail + VCs bread and butter. Then at the end of the day sell the platform which is basically everything in the circle,” he said.
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In addition, another analyst highlights what he described as a “token equity problem” in the crypto industry.
“You fund the project. You take the risk, you have no claim on the exit. Tokens are not shares. They never were. ‘Independent and community-driven' = the people who built it are leaving for greener pastures,” Steady Crypto posted.
The commenter pointed out that although the comment prefix has entered as the network's new lead developer, there is no obligation for any group to remain indefinitely.
The analyst said: “Until this is resolved, every sign is a bet that the team will stick to – with zero contractual obligations.
While the announcement clearly shook confidence among AXL owners, the future of the project now rests on whether Common Prefix can successfully execute its roadmap and rekindle confidence in Axelar's long-term value proposition.
