About block 972,246
Bitcoin block 972,246 was mined by AntPool on October 20, 2026 at 2:42 AM UTC, 2 min 41 s after block 972,245. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 7,078 transactions in 1.61 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.14 sat/vB, down from 1.06 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0041 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, AntPool earned 3.1291 BTC for this block.
Block 972,246 is number 535 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,481 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,754 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. AntPool found 213 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 13 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.