Explaining Blockchain with the Island of Yap

Here’s the best non-technical explanation I’ve see of blockchain technology.

It uses the analogy of a 🇫🇲 Micronesian island where the local currency “are large doughnut shaped stone slabs.”

An excerpt…

To illustrate the process, let’s say I own a stone and would like to sell it to Jim. I would have to announce the trade to the entire tribe stating I have sold my stone to Jim. The stone itself will not move, but now everyone agrees that is Jim’s stone. Now let’s say three months later I try and sell that stone again.  I announce to the tribe I would like to trade that stone to Bob. The tribe would reject that trade saying the stone no longer belongs to me as I had traded it the Jim three months ago. 

In this example, the tribe represents a distributed ledger, and they agreed my first trade to Jim was valid. When I tried to trade the stone again to Bob, they rejected that trade as they all remembered the previous trade that took place. So we have a distributed network agreeing on an event, and keeping a historical record to prevent fraudulent activity.