Crises like COVID and the Hormuz closure may be softening people up to accept digital money and tighter financial controls — bad news for privacy and personal financial freedom.

• COVID rushed through contact tracing, vaccine passports, and emergency powers that would normally take years, because scared people accept more.
• The Hormuz closure is now doing the same on the money side, disrupting supply chains and pushing food and gas prices up.
• Grocery stores are shifting to digital price tags, making it easier to change prices on the fly.
• Consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 2008, and foreign countries are buying less US debt.
• US debt has crossed 125% of GDP, adding more financial stress on top of everything else.

Outlook: Expect more pressure on prices and the dollar, which could be used to justify a faster push toward digital money.