About block 972,299
Bitcoin block 972,299 was mined by AntPool on October 20, 2026 at 9:13 AM UTC, 10 min 32 s after block 972,298. That is slower than the 10-minute target; long gaps are normal, since every hash attempt is an independent draw with the same tiny chance.
It confirmed 5,698 transactions in 1.66 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.51 sat/vB, up from 0.14 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0149 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, AntPool earned 3.1399 BTC for this block.
Block 972,299 is number 588 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,428 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,701 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. AntPool found 209 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 6 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.