diff --git a/repo/fsrepo/fs_repo.c b/repo/fsrepo/fs_repo.c
index 351cb7b..d073185 100644
--- a/repo/fsrepo/fs_repo.c
+++ b/repo/fsrepo/fs_repo.c
@@ -397,16 +397,15 @@ int fs_repo_open_config(struct FSRepo* repo) {
 	// the next should be the array, then string "PeerID"
 	//NOTE: the code below compares the peer id of the file with the peer id generated
 	// by the key. If they don't match, we fail.
-	repo->config->identity->peer = libp2p_peer_new();
-	_get_json_string_value(data, tokens, num_tokens, curr_pos, "PeerID", &repo->config->identity->peer->id);
-	// build the Libp2pPeer object
-	repo->config->identity->peer->id_size = strlen(repo->config->identity->peer->id);
-	repo->config->identity->peer->is_local = 1;
+	unsigned char* test_peer_id = NULL;
+	_get_json_string_value(data, tokens, num_tokens, curr_pos, "PeerID", &test_peer_id);
 	char* priv_key_base64;
 	// then PrivKey
 	_get_json_string_value(data, tokens, num_tokens, curr_pos, "PrivKey", &priv_key_base64);
 	retVal = repo_config_identity_build_private_key(repo->config->identity, priv_key_base64);
-	if (retVal == 0) {
+	if (retVal == 0
+			|| strlen(test_peer_id) != repo->config->identity->peer->id_size
+			|| strcmp(test_peer_id, repo->config->identity->peer->id) != 0) {
 		free(data);
 		free(priv_key_base64);
 		return 0;