The origin of black hole entropy remains one of the deepest mysteries in modern physics. Two recent developments offer complementary perspectives on this puzzle: the entropy release from regular Schwarzschild black holes with a de Sitter core (the Ovalle, Casadio, and Kamenshchik [OCK] construction), and the local thermodynamics of the de Sitter vacuum (Volovik). In the OCK framework, the inner horizon carries positive Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S_{\text{inner}}=\pi h_c^2$, whose formal contribution decreases as the core shrinks; the $n=0$ Minkowski breaking obstructs a regular continuation within the ansatz. In Volovik’s framework, the signed entropy assignment for a homogeneous de Sitter Hubble volume is $S_{\text{dS}}=\mathrm{sgn}(H)\pi /H^2=\mathrm{sgn}(H)A/4$: expanding de Sitter ($H>0$) carries positive entropy, while contracting de Sitter ($H<0$) carries negative entropy. We show that the sign of the Hubble parameter is the unifying element linking the two pictures. The OCK core is de Sitter only for $n>2$; the Minkowski breaking is a classical kinematic obstruction, not a dynamical transition to a contracting de Sitter phase. Any connection between the expanding and contracting regimes might involve a quantum mechanism that remains speculative. Nevertheless, both frameworks embody the same thermodynamic principle: interior shrinkage changes the assigned entropy, with total entropy increase requiring an appropriate physical balance, and together they provide a consistent picture of entropy flow during gravitational collapse. The integer nature of the OCK parameter suggests a quantized entropy spectrum and a statistical interpretation of black hole entropy, while compatibility with the generalized second law is conditional on the entropy prescription and a justified environmental contribution.

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• General relativity
• Gravitation