Bitcoin mining struggles to go green, research shows

FILE PHOTO: A representation of the virtual cryptocurrency Bitcoin is seen in this picture illustration taken October 18, 2021. REUTERS/Edgar Su

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin is struggling to go green, with the cryptocurrency making only slim gains in its usage of sustainable energy in the year to January, research by Cambridge university showed on Tuesday.

Processing bitcoin transactions and "mining" new tokens is done by powerful computers, hooked up to a global network, that compete against others to solve complex mathematical puzzles.