Рынок отреагировал на сделку Circle: Токен Axelar упал на 18% Translation: Market reacts to Circle deal: Axelar token drops by 18%

The prices of the native token of the Axelar network (AXL) fell by 17.8% following the news that Circle had reached an agreement to acquire Interop Labs, the primary developer of the protocol.

The company has purchased both the engineering team and the intellectual property. The network, Axelar Foundation, and the token will maintain their independence and continue to operate under community governance.

Members of Interop Labs will join Circle’s team to work on payment infrastructure. Future support and development of the Axelar ecosystem will be handled by the company Common Prefix.

This acquisition will enable Circle to enhance asset compatibility within the Arc network with other blockchains and broaden the software developer toolsets for creating multichain applications. The deal’s closure is scheduled for early 2026.

The market reacted swiftly to the news with a sharp sell-off of the asset. Traders recognized that the acquisition does not create direct value for AXL holders. The token did not receive any backing from the buyer nor a share in revenue distribution.

This occurrence raises doubts about the belief that protocol success automatically translates to token price increases. Major players show interest in teams and technologies but may overlook the associated assets if they are not structurally tied to the deal.

At the time of writing, the price of AXL has risen to $0.11, although the coin has declined by 88% over the past year.

To recall, in November, Coinbase and the stablecoin startup BVNK backed out of a $2 billion acquisition deal.