Can you explain what blockchain is in less than 100 words?

[3piecechickendinner]

One issue that i am often faced with when talking about bitcoin and blockchain, is "What is blockchain"?  My answer really depends on the audience and how i explain it to them.  I really want people to get excited about it, but trying to explain what a nonce is or SHA256 doesnt really relate well to everyone.  So ive came across this example that pretty much sums it up in layman terms

"Think of it this way...The blockchain is like a google spreadsheet that can reside on the desk of officials who need to reference it, in the field on a mobile device of workers who need to input data and regular citizens who just want to maintain a copy of it.  None of these parties own it which makes it distributed and its peer to peer meaning anyone can access it.  Its immutable, meaning no one can change it."

Interested to see what you all are using.

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[Velkro]

"What is blockchain"? 

Its really hard to use own words in such complicated and innovative technology.
Short definition: Its a continuously growing list of records, which are linked and secured using cryptography.
On point, could be explained further for hours.

[monkeydominicorobin]

One issue that i am often faced with when talking about bitcoin and blockchain, is "What is blockchain"?  My answer really depends on the audience and how i explain it to them.  I really want people to get excited about it, but trying to explain what a nonce is or SHA256 doesnt really relate well to everyone.  So ive came across this example that pretty much sums it up in layman terms

"Think of it this way...The blockchain is like a google spreadsheet that can reside on the desk of officials who need to reference it, in the field on a mobile device of workers who need to input data and regular citizens who just want to maintain a copy of it.  None of these parties own it which makes it distributed and its peer to peer meaning anyone can access it.  Its immutable, meaning no one can change it."

Interested to see what you all are using.

Blockchain is a  public ledger system that records tranasactions in the Bitcoin network. Each block has a unique fingerprint which is unhackable. If you attempt to hack it will break the other blocks in the chain. But since there are hundreds of thousands of copies of the blockchain itself. The broken blocks which is the result of hacking will be ignored by the network.

[dothebeats]

It's hard to describe it in under a hundred words since there are loads of things you can tag it with. But anyway:

The blockchain is a chain of public transaction records that is verified through rigorous, complex computations before being packed in blocks of data. These blocks of data form a chain as more and more transactions passes through the network, hence the term blockchain.

[3piecechickendinner]

"What is blockchain"? 

Its really hard to use own words in such complicated and innovative technology.
Short definition: Its a continuously growing list of records, which are linked and secured using cryptography.
On point, could be explained further for hours.

For crypto currency mass adoption we need to think of ways to explain this in layman terms.  I’m sure when the internet first exploded and people wanted to know what it was, we didn’t tell them about HTTP protocols, servers, clients and ip addresses, we probably just showed them cat videos on a Netscape browser and said this is the internet.  Let’s explain blockchain as what it does and not necessarily what it “is”

[Deathgamer]

One issue that i am often faced with when talking about bitcoin and blockchain, is "What is blockchain"?  My answer really depends on the audience and how i explain it to them.  I really want people to get excited about it, but trying to explain what a nonce is or SHA256 doesnt really relate well to everyone.  So ive came across this example that pretty much sums it up in layman terms

"Think of it this way...The blockchain is like a google spreadsheet that can reside on the desk of officials who need to reference it, in the field on a mobile device of workers who need to input data and regular citizens who just want to maintain a copy of it.  None of these parties own it which makes it distributed and its peer to peer meaning anyone can access it.  Its immutable, meaning no one can change it."

Interested to see what you all are using.

According to my research about blockchain,Ive found that blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network.

[decryptionary]

Yep check this out, 99 words:

Blockchain is technology for creating permanent, secure digital recordings that don’t rely on any single person or group. Blockchains can record anything, though the first example was created to record bitcoin transactions.

Imagine the blockchain as a book of records. Each page in that book, is a block, and can record anything. Blocks are created one after another, chained to each other creating what we know as the blockchain.

Multiple blockchain records are maintained simultaneously by a large group of unrelated individuals and their computers, making it cloud storage on steroids. Updates are immediate and manipulation is extremely difficult.

It comes from my website, Decryptionary.com - The simplest crypto and blockchain dictionary.

It also includes easy visual walkthroughs and word lists by subject.

[Coding Enthusiast]

"What is blockchain"?

A chain of blocks!

[Bitfort]

I would describe the main principle.
It's technology how to store data in the way any new data are linked to previous thus preventing them from being changed.

[chathura]

“The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.”

Don & Alex Tapscott, authors Blockchain Revolution

[Boseda]

A public ledger which stores all Bitcoin transactions.

[sgenuine]

One issue that i am often faced with when talking about bitcoin and blockchain, is "What is blockchain"?  My answer really depends on the audience and how i explain it to them.  I really want people to get excited about it, but trying to explain what a nonce is or SHA256 doesnt really relate well to everyone.  So ive came across this example that pretty much sums it up in layman terms

"Think of it this way...The blockchain is like a google spreadsheet that can reside on the desk of officials who need to reference it, in the field on a mobile device of workers who need to input data and regular citizens who just want to maintain a copy of it.  None of these parties own it which makes it distributed and its peer to peer meaning anyone can access it.  Its immutable, meaning no one can change it."

Interested to see what you all are using.

This is a chain of blocks. LOL. Better watch this simple video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WG7D47tGb0 and find your answer there!

[CryptoInsights]

I would explain as Blocks are the files that are accessible by anyone. The information is stored in the files based on some rules called consensus. One who follows the consensus and enters data into the files(blocks) is rewarded with coins(Bitcoin). And the process of entering the data into the files is called mining.

Chain of such file is nothing but blockchain. The advantage of this model is it is accessable by all and is managed by the anyone who follow consensus.

Correct me if I have missed something. As OP was asking about bitcoin and blockchain. I think above answer is enough.

[Kamog]

Blockchain is a growing list of time-stamped series of immutable record of data that are linked using cryptography and is managed by cluster of computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network.

[stompix]

Each block has a unique fingerprint which is unhackable. If you attempt to hack it will break the other blocks in the chain. But since there are hundreds of thousands of copies of the blockchain itself. The broken blocks which is the result of hacking will be ignored by the network.

I don't think just an attempt would break it

Not all blockchains have thousands of full nodes running a full copy of it, it might be true for the big coins but not for the others, for example, even BSV has only 400 nodes, and even Doge a bit over 500.
For the coins not in the top 100, it's in the tens not thousands.

And btw, a blockchain doesn't have to be public, and there are centralized blockchains also.

[OgNasty]

Public immutable ledger.

[nakamura12]

A Blockchain, originally block chain is a growing system in which records of transactions made in bitcoin are maintained across several computers that are linked in a peee-to-peer network. Each block contains the hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data and it is also a public digital ledger.

[tbct_mt2]

I think I can make it more shortly than 100 words:
Blockchain is an innovative chain-of-block-based technology that uses most advanced algorithms of cryptography, and operates decentralized globally with main purpose of totally freedom in privacy.

[XEOP$]

To make it short: any blockchain is the instance of the cryptography-biased distributed database that records validated transactions.

[Patentico]

A growing chain of immutable transactions, linked & secured with cryptography, that is open & distributed to every member of the network.