According to Edward Dowd, global lockdowns and mandates reflect an 'Orwellian' turn and he cites a ZeroHedge post outlining 11 signs of accelerating surveillance, framing a civil-liberties risk narrative rather than a specific market event. Source: Edward Dowd on X, Dec 11, 2025; Source: ZeroHedge, 11 Signs That Our World Is Rapidly Becoming A Lot More Orwellian. For traders, similar civil-liberties flashpoints have previously coincided with increased use of crypto rails, as seen when Canadian authorities invoked the Emergencies Act to freeze protest-related funds while organizers turned to bitcoin donations in February 2022. Source: Reuters, February 2022. Dowd’s post includes no new policy actions or market data, so this is a sentiment cue that market participants often track for potential rotation toward censorship-resistance and self-custody themes in BTC and related assets. Source: Edward Dowd on X, Dec 11, 2025; Source: Reuters, February 2022.