Considering that OP wants answers that (ideally) are easy for non-technical peeps to digest, I think the following quote (from WO, of all places) is worth leaving here. Like shahzadafzal, I really like the term "public digital payments infrastructure".
Indeed the best explanation of Bitcoin you will ever hear - by Peter Van Valkenburgh, it old ~4 years, but still the best
https://twitter.com/TansuYegen/status/1559175031124631553Some oral testimony from the beginning:
What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency and it works because of the world’s first public blockchain network.
What does Bitcoin do? It’s easy. It lets you send and receive "value" to and from anyone in the world.
Why is it revolutionary? Because unlike every other tool for sending value over the internet, it works without the need to trust a middle-man.
The lack of any corporation in between means that bitcoin is the world’s first
public digital payments infrastructure. And by public I simply mean
open to all and not owned by any single entity.
"
Public digital payments infrastructure", I never heard this term before from any one else, brilliantly explained worth watching if you haven't before. You won't regret your 6 minutes.
If you want to see on the Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzxKs-Jd0H4