About block 972,342
Bitcoin block 972,342 was mined by Foundry USA on October 20, 2026 at 3:03 PM UTC, 47 min 7 s after block 972,341. 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 3,985 transactions in 1.53 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 5.18 sat/vB, up from 2.00 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0720 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, Foundry USA earned 3.1970 BTC for this block.
Block 972,342 is number 631 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,385 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,658 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. Foundry USA found 258 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 10 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.