Blockchain Technology was driven to fame by its application on Bitcoin Gold due to its encryption that has been considered hacker proof. Bitcoin has been used as a reference to its success, providing a secure network for users.
The question however is, can blockchain succeed without bitcoin?
Blockchain isn't "just a data structure". It's a network protocol. A data structure can exist in any local database. A blockchain cannot. Blockchain tokens are essential, and essentially valuable. The cryptocurrency is a product of the blockchain.
I disagree and I think we've discussed this already. You think a blockchain must be a distributed ledger with tokens. No. Blockchain is a linked list data structure. It can be on your PC without extra copies anywhere else. It can be with or without tokens. An implementation of distributed blockchain, with a token, with proof of work for updates makes up Bitcoin. Also throw in merkle-izing the data for easier traversal and whatnot.