About block 971,998
Bitcoin block 971,998 was mined by SECPOOL on October 18, 2026 at 1:04 PM UTC, 14 seconds after block 971,997. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 5,909 transactions in 1.74 MB (99.9% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.21 sat/vB, down from 0.28 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0022 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, SECPOOL earned 3.1272 BTC for this block.
Block 971,998 is number 287 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,729 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 78,002 blocks after this one.
Its hash starts with 20 zeros: that is the proof of work, a number below the target that the whole network’s hashrate had to search for. SECPOOL found 40 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 11 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.