Sergei Gurbanov, CEO of Axelar, discusses how the decentralized interoperability protocol connects multiple blockchains through a plug-and-play gateway model. Axelar is integrating with Stellar's Soroban smart contract platform and launching a virtual machine to scale cross-chain development.
In this Tech Talks episode, Tomer from the Stellar Development Foundation interviews Sergei Gurbanov, CEO of Axelar, about cross-chain interoperability. Axelar uses a gateway-based architecture to connect blockchains without requiring each to implement unified protocols, enabling plug-and-play connectivity across 27+ networks. Sergei explains the technical challenges of connecting diverse blockchain stacks and why Axelar chose Rust and CosmWasm for security. The conversation covers Axelar's integration with Stellar's Soroban platform, the upcoming virtual machine to simplify multi-chain deployments, and the Interchain Maestro tool that lets developers manage contracts across dozens of chains with one click. Sergei outlines future priorities: scaling platform integrations and building chain-agnostic applications that span Web3 with strong security and UX properties.