They are very much linked to one another. If BitCoin didn&#x27;t offer anything novel over and above other media of exchange, like fiat currency, its value would approach zero. Its differentiating quality <i>is the blockchain</i> and peer-to-peer distributed concensus.<p><i>You could have a cryptocurrency without a block chain</i><p>Perhaps, but then you&#x27;d need to solve the problem of trust-less peer-to-peer Byzantine concensus a <i>different away,</i> using a different mechanism. And that&#x27;s exactly why the blockchain is novel.