About block 972,031
Bitcoin block 972,031 was mined by Foundry USA on October 18, 2026 at 5:30 PM UTC, 20 min 1 s after block 972,030. That is slower than the 10-minute target; long gaps are normal, since every hash attempt is an independent lottery ticket.
It confirmed 3,952 transactions in 1.65 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 1.96 sat/vB, up from 0.13 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0229 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, Foundry USA earned 3.1479 BTC for this block.
Block 972,031 is number 320 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,696 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,969 blocks after this one.
Its hash starts with 19 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 241 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 7 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.