Explaining Blockchain to Your Grandma

Alright, I don't mean to offend grandma because some older folks are pretty savvy. Even you may have some general idea that digital currencies run on a technology that is called the blockchain without a clear understanding of what that means. That's fine. Most of us know how to drive our cars without understanding that much about how they work. Still, blockchain can be even less transparent. Let's say you want to explain blockchain to your grandma, your five-year-old niece, of even some casual stranger you meet in a bar.

How to Explain Blockchain to Anybody

It's easiest to explain blockchain by comparing it to similar items that you may work with on your computer or even the physical world. For example, think of a spreadsheet on your computer. If you aren't familiar with online spreadsheets, think of a piece of paper that holds a journal of accounting entries.

Now, let's say you can duplicate that exact spreadsheet or piece of paper and keep these copies in many different places. Not only can you keep the original document in many different places, you have a way to agree upon updates and to make sure that these updates get made, so each copy is always an exact duplicate of the original. If everybody can't agree upon the transaction, then no updates get made, but each copy still remains a duplicate.

What's so Great About Blockchain

This new technology has few advantages over the centralized way of storing information in one database:

-- Nobody is in charge or in control. Everybody must agree to make changes, or they won't get made.
-- Everybody sees exactly the same thing at the same time.
-- There also won't be one single point of failure or corruption.

I'm sure that all of you cybercurrency gurus out there can add a lot to this, and I'm interested in reading what you have to say!