I tend to think of it as "the blockchain is a mostly read-only database, smart contracts are stored procedures that can read & write a small part of it". The b

I tend to think of it as "the blockchain is a mostly read-only database, smart contracts are stored procedures that can read & write a small part of it". The benefit over a regular database is that everyone gets to see what the data and stored procedures are, so you don't have to take someone elses word for that part. Also, there's a built-in payment system, which is handy sometimes. It doesn't solve interacting with the rest of the world, you still need an external system for that, just like with most databases.