About Tirthankar Sundaram
First and last name: Tirthankar Sundaram
Designation: Manager – Deposits and Analysis, ALM Treasury
Business: Ax Bank
Country: India
Tirthankar A learning journey that inspires
What 101 Blockchains courses or certifications have you taken?
I have completed the Certified Blockchain Product Manager (CBPM)™ certification program by 101 Blockchains.
Why did you choose this certification program and how was your learning experience with the platform?
I have over two decades of professional experience in various banking areas, including treasury, retail and wholesale functions. Currently, I work in Treasury and ALM, which requires spending most of the time analyzing the balance sheet from a liquidity, risk and funding efficiency perspective.
As digital transformation and emerging technologies become integral components of the financial services industry, I have developed a curiosity to understand how new technologies can solve real-world balance sheet problems.
Blockchain is a recurring topic in banking conversations, industry stories and strategy meetings. However, I believed that I not only needed to understand blockchain technology, but also how to apply it in relevant business contexts.
Thinking about blockchain beyond the hype helped me choose the Certified Blockchain Product Manager certification. I also like to state that I had a productive learning experience with the certification course and 101 Blockchains.
At 101 Blockchains, you don’t just get certifications, you learn real-world skills that make you a confident blockchain professional.
What skills or knowledge learned through the program helped you the most?
The structured content design of the certification program is the most attractive highlight for me. I want to emphasize that the program does not explain blockchain as a standalone technology. Rather, it clearly shows how blockchain can become an integral aspect of the broader problem of product and ecosystem design in banking. The certification course also explained how different concepts such as smart contracts, governance and tokenization can be combined to build viable solutions to business problems.
I work with treasury functions and balance sheets in my professional role, and the practical project in the certification program helped me the most. My project was to create a design to solve real-world problems related to SME supply chain finance in India, with a practical roadmap for implementation.
The relevance of the certification program’s hands-on exercise to my professional goals proved to be a huge benefit. Most importantly, the program helped me see problems from a different perspective. This new perspective allowed me to design a blockchain-based model that treats invoices as digital assets. As a result, it can provide better access to credit, improve overall capital efficiency and reduce the risk of double financing.
You should always view practical exercises as something more than just academic requirements. The solution I designed in the program directly targets real-world challenges in the SME financing ecosystem. It also provides clear implementation pathways across the majority of existing market structures, delivering the desired practical value.
How has 101 Blockchains contributed to your professional development?
The 101 Blockchains certification program offered courses on blockchain architecture, integration layers, and consensus mechanisms, which I used to create my solution. More importantly, I could develop a system that could work seamlessly with existing infrastructure rather than replacing it.
In my opinion, the next promising aspect of the program was that it did not focus too much on technical complexity. I learned to explain technical concepts to business stakeholders and acquired the skills needed to promote blockchain adoption in financial institutions.
With the help of the certification program, I learned blockchain concepts and developed proficiency in identifying the right use cases and approaches to implementing blockchain technology.
From learners to leaders, discover the success stories of over 100,000 professionals with 101 Blockchains.
Who would you recommend CBPM certification to and why?
I believe the CBPM certification program is the right choice for anyone working at the intersection of finance, technology and strategy. The program played a pivotal role in transforming my curiosity about blockchain into a clear understanding of all the concepts. Most importantly, the certification honed my abilities to identify how emerging technologies can support real business outcomes.
