Unlike banks, Blockchain technology gives individuals the capability to carry out transactions anonymously and use their money in any way they see fit. One notable example of a banking failure is the WikiLeaks example. Individuals that wanted to donate to WkikLeaks (a bold non-profit journalistic organization) in 2010 using traditional banks found their funds frozen. However, Bitcoin provided an alternative that allowed these same individuals to make donations to WikiLeaks without use.
As the first platform that caused the use of Blockchains, Bitcoin serves two main purposes, it is both a way to store value and transfer value between parties. Since Bitcoin's launch, blockchain technology has been adopted for numerous different purposes with many different cryptocurrency projects. We're now seeing Blockchain as a way to host decentralized apps (DApps), execute smart contracts, and perform many additional functions that were impossible before blockchain technology.