About block 3,996
Bitcoin block 3,996 was mined by Unknown on February 12, 2009 at 10:55 AM UTC, 7 min 49 s after block 3,995. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 1 transactions in 0.00 MB (0.0% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.00 sat/vB, and all fees added up to 0.0000 BTC. With the 50.000 BTC subsidy of halving era 1, Unknown earned 50.0000 BTC for this block.
Block 3,996 is number 1,981 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 1; 35 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 4,031. The next halving is at block 210,000, 206,004 blocks after this one.
Its hash starts with 8 zeros: that is the proof of work, a number below the target that the whole network’s hashrate had to search for. Unknown found 20 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 970,231 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.