How Peter McCormack’s Bitcoin soccer team may kick-start a revolution

You might have heard of Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds and his decision to buy a Welsh football Club. Why did you want to purchase a soccer team? Well, first of all, we call it football. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have become the New and unlikely owners of Wrexham Football Club. Let me tell you about how a bitcoiner from Bedford, near London has bought his local Football club and he's turning his town into the Capital of Bitcoin in the UK. My primary mission is to raise up my town. Opportunity and success for my town. Welcome to Real Bedford. It's pronounced reAl, not real because the owner, Peter McCormack, has Champions League dreams. Could raise a billion and would get this club in The Premier League in 9 years. Because you just you have no money to do it. I could build a £200 million stadium if I did a Sh*tcoin. It's really tempting. The town of Bedford is small, insignificant even. At just 180,000 people, it's one of many commuter Towns surrounding London, the financial hub of The UK and Europe. But what would happen if you could inject Investment into this small local economy? Quite struck by how many shops are closed on the Streets of Bedford. I must have walked past 7 or 8 shops along the High street, all of them closed. It's kind of wild. Inflation here is not good. Debenhams used to be one of the UK's leading high Street stores. It's been closed down for years.

In Bedford they haven't replaced it. What do you make of Bedford right now in terms of I mean, this shop has closed down, that shop Closed down. Everything's empty. It's a real shame, really. They're spending a lot of money sort of making it Look pretty, but there's not much going on Inside, so it's a shame. What do you make of the situation right now in Bedford? There's a lot of closed shops. It's so bad. And like for people like our younger Age, it's like really bad as well because there's Nothing to do. You grew up in Bedford. What do you make of the Town right now? What do you think the direction Of the town is? Well, it's still got a bit of life to it, but the Town centre has dwindled. It's shopping online and the whole COVID thing, It kind of killed town centres everywhere but I Still see people walking around. It's true. I'm optimistic things will get better. What do you make of like, the vibe or the Atmosphere right now in Bedford? Very down here with what we know, it's gone. All the towns, things have gone downhill. A lot of shops closed down. A lot of homeless on the streets, drug addicts. So it's not the same as it was since we've lived Up this way. Everyone's going through hard times. They say they want to open shops. We want to attract more business, but everyone's Just down depressed with it going on.

Bitcoin in the United Kingdom has had a tough time Of late. The unelected Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has been pushing CBDCs or central bank Digital currencies. Inflation is the highest among most northern European countries. And rail staff, doctors, teachers, you name the Public sector worker, most of them are on strike Right now. Can Bitcoin really grow into a Meaningful tool for change, or will it fade into Irrelevance? Because here in Bedford, Bitcoin Could be gaining a strong foothold. It's becoming a firm fixture on the Bitcoin world Tour alongside El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach, Lugano and Miami. The market town has hosted some of the biggest Names in Bitcoin, including Jeff Booth, author of The Price of Tomorrow, Lawrence Lepard, James Lavish, and of course, Peter McCormack himself, The local boy. There was a time when I was looking to move to Texas and there was time I was looking to move to London. And I was thinking: "Well, you know what? Why don't I actually just try and do something in My hometown? My friends are here. That's where I'm from." And so, yeah, and I think In doing this, I've come to really love the town Because people have got behind the project really Supported me. I mean, all the volunteers every Week come out and help all the people who come And support us, you know? That makes me love it more. Peter McCormack is proudly from Bedford and he

Wants to orange-pill or introduce Bitcoin to his Town. He's doing it through his podcasts, the Most popular podcast on Bitcoin, through the Local football club and now recently through the Purchase of a bar. He wants to raise up his town and put Bedford on The map. What is your ideal Bedford look like? What's your vision for Bedford? Economically prosperous, but the team primarily. But just economically prosperous. We'll have 400-500 people coming in here today, Flying from all over the world to this town, to Bedford, spending money in this town. The Swan Hotel is fully booked out. They're going to the pubs, they're going to the Bars, they're going to the shops. Tens of thousands of pounds will be spent this Weekend in Bedford because of this. Let's drive the economic opportunity. New businesses will be created from that. So, yeah, I just want Bedford to be economically Prosperous. Yeah, but it's not just economic there, right? The one thing I've taken away from, I mean, I'll Say it the first game of the season and funnily Enough, the last home game this season. Yeah, there's a real sense of community that's Built here. On top of that, they've not been Other sort of things like the youth team, the Women's team, like anything that exists prior to. Now, the women's team did, they existed. Bedford Girls and Ladies, but we partnered with Them, provided them with kits. They're now going to come under our management

Next season so they'll be real Bedford Ladies and We will have 200 young girls every week going out Training under our brand. Give us another year, we'll have a youth. We're probably going to have a disability team Next year. And that's why I need a new facility. I need to raise £7.5 million, hopefully from Bitcoiners where I can build a ground, three Training pitches, a gym and a rehabilitation Centre, have a centre for football and excellence In the town where people can come all day, every Day and play football. Are you familiar with the story of a local lad Called Peter McCormack who bought the football Club in Bedford? No, no. I don't know anything about Peter McCormack, no. Does Real Bedford mean anything to you? Never heard of it. Do you know about the football teams here? Have you heard of Real Bedford before? No. No, no. Do you know there's a town called Real Bedford? Does that mean anything to you? No. No. No. Yeah, I know Real Bedford. Have you been to the games like to see a few Matches? I've been to one of their games, like, once or Twice just to see what's going on. Is that the one that's now called Real Bedford? Did you hear about this takeover? Yeah. Yeah. Have you been to a game? No, not yet.

Are you familiar with the football scene here? Bedford Town? Yeah. Bedford Town. Okay. What about Real Bedford? I've heard of Real Bedford. They're doing pretty well after doing that Takeover sort of thing they've got, so I don't Know who's taking over, but they're doing much Better than Bedford Town, to be honest. I was getting off the train earlier today and I Was like, if it wasn't for Bitcoin and it wasn't For pizza, there's no way that I would have come Here. There's no way, there's no reason I would Have come here. The world famous Bitcoin beach or El Zonte in El Salvador put the tiny Latin American nation on The world map. Peter McCormack was one of the first Bitcoin Advocates to visit the town, and he's even Interviewed the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, twice. But can you really apply the success of Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador to Bedford? Jeff, welcome to Bedford. Thank you. It's your second time here though, right? First time here. First, is it really? Well, yesterday was my first time here. Okay. And had you heard of Bedford before Bitcoin? Before Bitcoin? No, I hadn't heard of Bedford Until Peter McCormack bought it. Okay, fantastic. And of course, you wrote one of The, it's becoming a go-to Bitcoin book, even Though it's not about Bitcoin, The Price of

Tomorrow. And you also manage a fund Ego Death Capital. What do you make of the current sort of Economic scene globally speaking right now before We come to Bedford? Okay. It's playing out exactly like the book Predicted it would play out. AI is playing out like the book predicted AI would Play out and the corresponding problem in the World, because those two systems are at polar Opposites, is playing out exactly as predicted in The book. Unfortunately. And Bitcoin is essentially a fixed to the system Outside of the system. So it's a transition to a new system. Does the word Bitcoin mean anything to you? Bitcoin? Bitcoin. I no understand. What does the word Bitcoin mean to you? If anything. Avoid. Avoid. And what about Bitcoin? Does Bitcoin mean anything to you? Well… And what does the word Bitcoin mean to you? Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? What is a Bitcoin? Isn't it a currency? Yeah, it's a currency. Yeah. No, nailed it. That's good. Yeah. Okay, cool. I've heard of Bitcoin. I don't really get how it works and all that

Stuff, but like, I've heard that if you can Invest in Bitcoin, you can make some serious Money off it. Does the word Bitcoin mean anything to you? I know Bitcoin. Is it? Yeah. What's Bitcoin? It's basically computer Generated currency. It's not tangible in your Hand but it is traded as currency. Yeah. Yeah. Does Bitcoin mean anything to you? Digital currency. I don't use it. I don't intend to use it at the Minute until it's like more safe in a way because It can be stolen and stuff. What does the word Bitcoin mean to you? Stocks, investing. Do you have any Bitcoin? No, but I had like an interest in wanting to Invest. Yeah, but how can you sort of fix this disconnect? How can you get more people to make that leap Into doing what Peter's doing, doing what you're Doing? I think it's just time. People start to realize it and like the Bitcoin Rabbit hole is deep, right? It's really deep. And if you're at the top of That rabbit hole, the first thing you probably do Is hold it, right. A lot of people, the next thing they do is go and Buy some other sh*tcoins, right? And then they come back to Bitcoin and then they Start to understand it more.

Some people go down that path really quickly. Some people go down slowly, but eventually I Think it's just, to me, I think it's a time thing . When you're spending more time in the world you Want to see, you meet more people that are Aligned in the world that you want to see. And that's why I keep saying on these podcasts, I Can't believe I get to do what I get to do, Right? Yes, we're going to make a ton of money. But besides the money, you're meeting like, I get To spend my time with the most brilliant Entrepreneurs and most brilliant people building The rails of the future. I'd do it for free. All places start out as nothing, right? And an economic growth like what Bitcoin could do Here and drive attention in more and more people, It emerges once other businesses flock into there And it creates something that would look Different, just like El Zonte. It looks different than it probably did ten years Ago. Much to the amusement or bemusement of local fans, Bitcoin people from all over the world are coming To Bedford to watch this local team play. Even non-footballers are keen to meet up. It's an unexpected collision of two vastly Different worlds: Bitcoin and football. Behind me, Ben is putting together a Bitcoin Point of sale device with things he brought with Him from home. We're in the football clubhouse, The Real Bedford is showing people how to set it All up. The game is happening right behind us. We're in the second half.

It's five nil, six nil. Do you even care? Yeah. I mean, I don't really follow football, I'll Be honest, Joe. Why are you here? Well, I'm here for the Bitcoin. And actually, I will say that I mean, obviously I Love Peter. And I think what he's done with the club is Fantastic. If you see that corridor, the death metal Corridor. It's amazing. I imagine these away teams coming in. Like walking through this corridor of graffiti and Skulls and death metal. And it's such an un-footbal experience. In any real world use case of implementing Bitcoin, then there's all these really Interesting use cases and opportunities to build Interesting software, which we weren't aware of Before. So I've never engaged with, you know, Building software for a football team in Accepting Bitcoin. So now we have that opportunity. So that's very exciting to me. Hitchcock. Hitchcock lays one back forwards. That is a handball, but Brown is there to tap it Home. I think they just scored. Whereas that's not so exciting. You have a connection to Bedford? I grew up here. Yeah. You grew up here. Okay. What does it mean for you to see the local Team winning the league, getting promoted?

That's great. I think it's really good. You know, this team is Going from nothing, really, and getting it. And I think it's great. It's also kind of Bringing the crowds out, you know, getting people Coming together from, you know, Bedford, who is Quite a cool town, you know, having maybe the Recognition from the other clubs. So it's good to have this club now kind of coming Along. And also what Peter's doing is great with All the kind of different, you know, approach to It. I think, you know, having a look at how is a Smaller league team but with decent sort of Sponsorship behind it and understanding how to Market it and doing things properly. So fans want to come down because of a good Atmosphere, there's, you know, things going on Outside of just the football. So it's really good. The story here is that you have somewhat of a Pantomime villain in cases of Peter McCormack, He sort of comes in and radicalizes everything, Changes everything and everyone automatically Goes against it. That's just British culture and Nature, isn't it really? And slowly he's turning the favour and support of Locals and the general public and their Understanding in a similar vein to what he's done With Bitcoin really. It's a very similar sort of strategy of sort of More and more people are learning that this is a Good thing, this is a very good thing that's Going on right now. And you know, it's great to See Bitcoin coming to my town.

You know, I've been involved with Cryptocurrencies for about 3-4 years now. And to see some of the faces that are here as Well as Peter being here and like back in this Football club. It's massive. It's massive, and it just makes me feel really Proud to be from Bedford and it makes me really Excited to be honest. I just saw you showing someone how to use Bitcoin From the back of your car in the Real Bedford Car Park. Why? What was going on there? So it was a business owner who's interested in Accepting Bitcoin payments, and it's a completely New concept to him. It so happens that I happen To have a point of sale device in the back of the Car. So I just ran through the options with him And the process by which he could accept Bitcoin Payments. And he's really keen. So I'm really excited for him and he's really Excited for the community, the business Community that he works with as well. So hopefully he'll pick up a few leads and we'll See a few businesses in Bedfordshire start to Accept Bitcoin soon. What do you understand about Bitcoin? I have some. I don't understand it at all. And I was quite surprised to find out yesterday That Bitcoin Peter, I think his name was, was Sponsoring the team and I didn't know anything About that. Yeah. You're from Bedford? Yeah, I'm from Bedford, so I was told to go and

Google it, who Peter is and Bitcoin and he will Come up and find out more if I wanted to. The Bitcoin price over the past two years has Steadily trended down as the bear market rages On. The focus for Real Bedford in this Environment is to not only win the league but Manage the Treasury and retain those important Bitcoin sponsors. This is part of the problem of running a business With Bitcoin in mind, right? It is incredibly volatile and when it goes down, It goes down hard. How hard has that been managing this club with Sponsors which, they're all actually alive today, Other sponsors I see today? So they agreed to sponsorship during the bull run, So that was great. So I planned a year ahead. So I've got my entire budget for next season in The bank. Done. So what I'm really raising is for the season After. So every single year I'm a year ahead. And therefore if there is a bit of difficulty, Then I've got a year to plan for that. When you're a business and you accept Cryptocurrencies, your customer base expands Massively, you know, you're attracting more People, which is why there's so many International people here already, because They're interested in cryptocurrency, they're Interested in Bitcoin, which is bringing them Here to Bedford. The goal is to communicate Bitcoin to the country. It's a bit like El Zonte was the seed that turned El Salvador into a Bitcoin country.

I want this to be the sea that makes our country Understand and have better regulations with Bitcoin. I would say when I think about Bitcoin, it Potentially is the largest country or one of the Largest countries today, but it's digital in Nature and it's spread out everywhere. So those Bitcoiners are very connected and they Actually have massive purchasing power that if They started to shift, it would shift the balance Of power to Bitcoin really quickly. But it's so distributed that it hasn't built Really strong network effects locally. And so that local connection and some of those Network effects is happening. It's just really early in that, and it's early in That because for a long time all you could do With Bitcoin is hold it. There was no Lightning, there wasn't a whole Bunch of other ways to be able to use it. So people just held it. Now there's ways to use it and create an economy Around it. I think like anywhere there's a Bitcoin hub and There's a reason to go and for people to meet in The space, like exciting things happen. And the thing that's happening with this football Club and every time there's an opportunity to use Bitcoin in the wild, actually use it, paying for Goods and services, then there's a whole bunch of Cool things we can build off it as a use case. So I get super excited when anywhere adopts Bitcoin. Real Bedford will play in the league above next

Year for the 2024 season. That means more money, more prestige and Ultimately even more Bitcoin awareness for the Town. I think this is one of these projects whereby I Don't think anyone really understood in the Start. They're like: "Whatever, probably doesn't Make sense." And I think it's starting to make More and more sense to people. I don't think Anyone really understood the branding or the Name. I think it started to make sense now. Like I could see it. I see the whole vision. I can see how we can get to the Premier League. It requires hard work, a bit of luck and Bitcoiners behind it, and Bitcoin to keep doing Its thing.