Key notes
- The AXL token has been under heavy selling pressure, correcting 18% since the development.
- With the acquisition of Circle, AXL holders will not have any direct economic benefits, such as buybacks, revenue sharing or governance rights.
- Common Prefix will play a larger role in the continued development of Axelar, with plans to focus on institutional adoption.
AXL, the native cryptocurrency of the Axelar network, has come under heavy selling pressure, falling 18% in the last 24 hours. This comes after Circle Internet Group announced the acquisition of Interop Labs, the developer team behind Axelar Network, while abandoning the AXL token.
Circle excluded Axelar network and AXL token from recent deal
AXL price is in freefall as the native token of the Axelar network faces heavy selling pressure, after stablecoin issuer Circle announced a deal to acquire the team and exclusive intellectual property of Interop Labs.
However, Circle’s official announcement noted:
“The Axelar Network, Foundation and AXL token are not part of this acquisition and will continue to operate independently under community governance, with Common Prefix leading the development of the network.”
As part of the acquisition, Interop Labs’ engineers and proprietary intellectual property will be transferred to Circle. Analysts noted that the transaction highlights a growing trend in which buyers prioritize engineering teams, intellectual property and enterprise infrastructure over tokens native to open networks.
In this case, Circle is gaining interoperability expertise to support its broader stablecoin and payments strategy. On the other hand, AXL holders remain economically disconnected from the acquisition.
The AXL token is not set up to receive buybacks, revenue sharing, or governance rights related to acquired assets. This further raised the question of whether success at the protocol level would necessarily translate into token price appreciation.
Common Prefix becomes the next big contributor
Common Prefix, another long-time contributor, is expected to play an increased role in maintaining and growing the Axelar ecosystem. The platform said it will announce more details on its future plans during the first quarter of 2026.
In addition to working for Axelar, Common Prefix has played an important role in the development of several important blockchain protocols, including XRP Ledger, Sui, Flashbots, Babylon, and Ripple’s Build on Bitcoin.
Common Prefix indicated that they would focus on institutional adoption of the Axelar network. “We will ensure that supported connections bring value to the ecosystem and appropriate incentives for validators. For institutional, we need increased economic security. We will enable co-staking of blue chip tokens beyond AXL. Privacy, compliance and robustness will also be a theme of the year,” they added.
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Bhushan is passionate about FinTech and has a good nose for understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draws his attention to the new emerging markets of Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. He is continually in the process of learning and remains motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In his free time, he reads thriller novels and sometimes explores his culinary skills.
