STORY: This is Crypto Weekly, with your top stories on alternative currencies. This week, a sunnier outlook for virtual money, but Coinbase still feels the chill.

After talk of a crypto winter, might a thaw be coming? Some investors think so, with flows into cryptocurrency funds turning positive again.

Source: CryptoCompare

Weekly inflows hit over $66 million last month, after an April when money poured out.

Some investors will still be wary though, with U.S. digital asset funds down by around a half this year.

It’s still winter at Coinbase. The trading platform says it’s extending a hiring freeze and rescinding job offers.

Chief People Officer L.J. Brock said market volatility and economic worries were set to “test the company”.

A new South African platform is bringing the blockchain to local artists. Online marketplace The Tree allows creators to promote their works as digital assets.

Artist Fhatuwani Mukheli is a fan:

“There’s a virtual world right now, people are buying land in it.”

The Tree says it runs on a low-energy version of the blockchain, tackling criticism that crypto mining is a climate killer.

And New York is trying to address the same worries. State lawmakers have voted to impose a moratorium on crypto mining powered by fossil fuels.

Governor Kathy Hochul is of two minds on whether to sign the bill though, with her office saying she has to balance green gains against job creation.