Distributed systems & blockchain architect ✦

About Neel

7+ years designing custody infrastructure, cross-chain systems, and AI-augmented engineering workflows at the intersection of blockchain and product.

I work at the overlap of distributed systems, blockchain infrastructure, AI-assisted engineering, and technical leadership. Most of the time that means helping teams make better decisions while delivery is already in motion.

— Ahmedabad, India

Neel Banker

hi, I'm Neel

  • 7+ years in production
  • 50+ engineers led
  • 15+ live platforms

The long version

For the past 7+ years, I've been deep in production environments across Web3 infrastructure, custody platforms, cross-chain integrations, and payments. Much of my work involves working with founders and product leaders early on to determine what needs to be built, then shaping it into something that won't fall apart at scale.

More recently, I've been spending significant time exploring AI-augmented engineering — not in a hype-driven way, but in a practical “how do teams ship faster without creating long-term mess” sense. I experiment with multi-model workflows, vector databases, and system design patterns that improve both delivery speed and architectural clarity.

I also care a lot about the environment teams work in. Mentoring engineers, tightening delivery frameworks, defining security expectations, and keeping technical direction aligned with business goals are big parts of what I do day-to-day.

In earlier roles, I led blockchain engineering teams of 50+ people and worked closely with startup founders and enterprise stakeholders as a technical sounding board when decisions really mattered.

Interests

  • Distributed platform architecture
  • AI-driven product engineering
  • Payments, custody, and financial infrastructure
  • Scaling engineering organizations
  • Founder and CTO advisory

Open to global architecture leadership roles, CTO-track paths, and meaningful long-term collaborations.

Beyond work

I designed, developed, and host the website for Hindustan Ecolife, a nature and eco product business run by my uncle, who is the company's director. It keeps me close to the full product stack: not just the backend, but the customer experience end to end.

Writing

I write The Architect's Brief— a weekly newsletter covering blockchain architecture, AI × Web3, and engineering leadership. If you build distributed systems or lead technical teams, it's for you.

Where I've worked

  1. May 2024 – Present2+ years

    Tech Alchemy

    Principal Blockchain Architect / Engineering Lead

    I lead the architecture and delivery of production blockchain platforms across Ethereum L2 ecosystems, custody infrastructure, cross-chain integrations, and payments. After the acquisition, a big part of my role has been navigating complexity, aligning multiple teams, and making sure critical platforms continue to scale without compromising security or user experience.

    • Taken key architecture decisions across several live blockchain platforms running in parallel
    • Delivered large-scale L2 deployments, custody integrations, and multi-chain systems
    • Helped formalize engineering practices around security, compliance, and operational reliability
    • Mentored engineers and been directly involved in senior-level hiring
    • Owned technical delivery across distributed internal teams and external vendors
    • Brought in AI-assisted engineering workflows to help teams move faster while keeping architectural discipline
  2. Jul 2019 – May 20244 yrs 11 mos

    SoluLab Inc

    Blockchain Team Lead → Engineering Lead

    I worked closely with startups and mid-market companies as a solution architect and technical advisor, helping them design and ship custom blockchain platforms and distributed systems. A lot of the work involved stepping in early, when ideas were still rough, and helping founders translate ambition into systems that could actually scale.

    • Designed blockchain platforms across DeFi, enterprise, and Web3 infrastructure use cases
    • Built and scaled a blockchain engineering team from 10 → 50+ engineers
    • Acted as CTO-level advisor on product architecture and delivery strategy
    • Introduced engineering standards around security, documentation, and code quality
    • Mentored engineers across different blockchain stacks and frameworks
    • Built long-term client relationships with companies across North America
    • ★ Best Team Lead of the Year — 2021
    • ★ Best Team Lead of the Year — 2022 (consecutive)

Signals of trust

A few selected proof points that show the range of the work: leadership, academic rigor, and delivery across high-stakes systems.

  • Leadership

    Best Team Lead of the Year

    2021 · SoluLab

    Recognized for delivery leadership, team mentoring, and execution quality across blockchain programs.

  • Leadership

    Best Team Lead of the Year

    2022 · SoluLab (consecutive)

    Repeated recognition for maintaining standards while scaling technical ownership and team execution.

  • Academic

    MTech Gold Medalist

    Ranked 4th in University

    Academic recognition grounded in systems thinking, research discipline, and technical depth.

  • Team building

    Scaled blockchain engineering org

    10 → 50+ engineers at SoluLab

    Expanded the delivery organization while keeping architecture, mentoring, and execution aligned.

  • Delivery

    Led architecture across live platforms

    15+ production systems in parallel

    Oversaw multiple high-stakes platforms across custody, L2, and Web3 infrastructure delivery.

  • Academic grounding

    MTech, Information Technology — review work on Blockchain & Web3 in Carbon Credits. Patent searching, research skills, and a habit of grounding technical decisions in trade-offs rather than trend-driven claims.

Capability map

The work spans protocol architecture, custody systems, backend delivery, cloud operations, and AI-assisted engineering — grouped so it shows breadth without turning into a resume wall.

  • 6capability lanes
  • 38named tools, grouped

  • Blockchain & Distributed Systems

    10 systems

    Protocol design, L2 delivery, multi-chain architecture, and contract execution layers.

    • Ethereum
    • Hyperledger Fabric
    • Solana
    • Polygon
    • OP Stack / L2
    • Arbitrum
    • Solidity
    • Base
    • Hyperledger Besu
    • SKALE

  • AI & ML

    5 workflows

    Practical AI tooling for engineering acceleration, retrieval workflows, and multi-model systems.

    • Claude API
    • LangChain
    • Chroma (Vector DB)
    • GPT4All / LlamaCpp
    • Multi-model Workflows

  • Custody & Security

    5 custody rails

    Wallet infrastructure, security boundaries, HSM-backed systems, and account abstraction rails.

    • Fireblocks (Non-Custodial)
    • BitGo
    • AWS CloudHSM
    • Account Abstraction (ERC-4337)
    • WalletConnect

  • Backend & APIs

    7 backend tools

    Service design, API contracts, monorepo systems, and event-driven backend execution.

    • Node.js
    • NestJS
    • Go
    • Python (Django, Flask)
    • TypeScript
    • Nx Monorepo
    • WebSocket / Noise

  • Infrastructure & Cloud

    6 infra layers

    Deployment surfaces, orchestration, databases, and operating environments for production systems.

    • AWS (EKS, S3, IAM)
    • Docker
    • Kubernetes
    • MongoDB
    • PostgreSQL
    • CouchDB

  • Tools & Process

    5 delivery tools

    Delivery standards, smart contract tooling, and the systems that keep teams shipping sanely.

    • Hardhat
    • Truffle
    • Jira / Confluence
    • GitHub / GitLab
    • Husky / ESLint

On stage

All talks →