Saving Bedford with Bitcoin | Peter McCormack

— Peter McCormack's five-and-a-half-year libel lawsuit with Craig Wright ended with a one-pound judgment and recovery of 85% of his legal fees, avoiding bankruptcy and asset liquidation.

— The UK libel system enabled Wright to weaponize courts; Peter proved Wright lied under oath about conference disinvitations through direct investigation.

— Peter left hosting What Bitcoin Did after becoming "cooked" on both the show and Bitcoin as a topic, despite building it into a major platform.

— Running businesses in Bedford—a coffee shop and other ventures—exposed Peter to government policy failures and transformed him from statist to practical libertarian.

— Peter launched a private security pilot in Bedford town centre to address visible street crime, homelessness, and drug use; it received mixed reactions but positive early feedback from residents and businesses.

— Government inefficiency (VAT policy, employment law, minimum wage, compliance costs) makes entrepreneurship harder; libertarianism, to Peter, means defending natural rights and property rather than pursuing anarcho-capitalism.

— Consider the broader institutional and regulatory environment when launching or scaling businesses; compliance costs and employment legislation can consume 10–20% of operational budgets and create misallocated capital.

— When facing seemingly overwhelming legal or financial adversity, detailed fact-checking and procedural diligence (as Peter demonstrated by verifying Wright's false conference claims) can shift courtroom dynamics and judge perception in your favour.

— Private, voluntary solutions (security teams, community initiatives, parallel institutions) may fill gaps where government has failed or become too bloated to function effectively.