Odaily Planet Daily reports that Mike Dudas, co-founder of The Block and founder of 6MV, commented on Circle's acquisition of Axelar in an article published on X, stating: "To everyone who thinks this is a token vs. equity issue, I can tell you clearly that this is entirely Circle's doing. Rumors suggest that Circle's VP of Corporate Development told one of Axelar's co-founders, 'I don't care about your investors,' and that Circle 'bought' the CEO and core intellectual property (IP) right under their noses without paying any consideration to investors—IP and the team that were crucial to Arc's launch."

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, commented on Circle's acquisition of Axelar in an article on X, stating: "Another acquisition, another RUG. Circle acquired Axelar while explicitly excluding the foundation and AXL tokens, which is practically criminal. Even if it doesn't break the law, it violates ethics. If you're a founder who wants to issue tokens: either treat it like equity, or get out of here."

Previously, Circle announced the acquisition of Interop Labs, the initial development team of Axelar, but Axelar Network, Axelar Foundation, and AXL tokens were not included in this acquisition.

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Circle announced on its X platform that it has signed an agreement to bring the Interop Labs team—the initial developers of the leading interoperability stack Axelar—into Circle to accelerate a new chapter in multi-chain infrastructure for Arc and CCTP. Circle looks forward to welcoming the new team members after the transaction is completed.

Axelar Network, Axelar Foundation, and AXL tokens are not included in this acquisition and will continue to operate independently under community governance, with CommonPrefix leading network development.