Anyone have a simple explanation of Bitcoin even your Grandma would understand?

[medUSA]

has anyone ever been able to come up with a <200 words explanation of what bitcoin is, in simple english, without words like "blockchain" and "hash", that would make even your grandma understand what bitcoin is?

I know this is not what you are looking for...
if it is your grandma you really need to convince, you could try this:


Bitcoin is like a foreign currency you need to buy when you go to another country,
except that Bitcoin is not issued by a country, it is generated on the internet.
You can run a software to solve a difficult math problem, and you would be rewarded some Bitcoins.
Or you can sell some your things or help out someone and get paid in Bitcoins.
Some might prefer to buy Bitcoins using dollars at an exchanged, similar to how you buy Euros or Yen at the airport.
You can't buy bread and milk at your local store with Bitcoins yet, but you can order all kinds of stuff on the internet.
Its popularity is growing among many countries and it value is rising steadily.

(and I skipped all the technical stuff, cos granny wouldn't understand any "peer-to-peer ledger nonsense")

[kjj]

"magic internet money"

[maxxoccupancy]

A printing press that is made to slow down over time.

[DoomDumas]

Bitcoin is Money Version 4

The evolution/revolution of trading..


Money v1 : Gold Silver
Money v2 : Paper
Money v3 : Plastic giving access to money in bank accounts, all digital money, with a plastic card as a mean of access..
Money v4 : Bitcoin

Normal evolution, it's just the product of the actual technology and knowledge availlable, a better way to trade..

[FandangledGizmo]

Grandma - "Bitcoin is the first decentralized, limited supply money with a publicly verifiable accounting system."


The Problem

For the last 5000+ years banks and governments have stolen wealth and power from the people.

How? Unfortunately, whenever you need to save/trade/transfer significant value, you always have to trust a person/bank/organisation/government with some of your money. But because of human greed, once your money/value is in their system they ALWAYS issue more notes/IOU's than they should until they get caught. The FDR gold revaluation, Nixon shock, and the coming bail-ins/fiat collapse as well as most currency & banking crises in human history are the result of this flaw.  

The solution

Bitcoin! - "Bitcoin is the first decentralized, limited supply money with a publicly verifiable accounting system."

For the first time in human history you can save/trade/transfer significant value without having to trust that a person/bank/organisation/government is not issuing/spending/promising more money than they should.

[Ecurb123]

In my words:

Bitcoin is a world wide currency which exists only on the internet. The coins are created by the users with special rules which limit the rate of creation. Bitcoins can be traded for psychical products or services by anyone in the world with almost not restrictions.

[LAMarcellus]

While it's more than 200 words, I think this article is by far the best simple explanation for beginners.

Maybe you can condense it down further to its most salient points and share with grandma.

http://evoorhees.blogspot.com/2012/04/bitcoin-libertarian-introduction.html

[maxxoccupancy]

That is the best write up ever.  Of course, it's from April 2012 when bitcoins were less than $5 each.