About block 971,960
Bitcoin block 971,960 was mined by Foundry USA on October 18, 2026 at 8:24 AM UTC, 33 min 22 s after block 971,959. That is slower than the 10-minute target; long gaps are normal, since every hash attempt is an independent lottery ticket.
It confirmed 4,195 transactions in 1.59 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 2.13 sat/vB, up from 1.00 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0300 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, Foundry USA earned 3.1550 BTC for this block.
Block 971,960 is number 249 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,767 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 78,040 blocks after this one.
Its hash starts with 21 zeros: that is the proof of work, a number below the target that the whole network’s hashrate had to search for. Foundry USA found 238 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 11 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.