About block 972,444
Bitcoin block 972,444 was mined by AntPool on October 21, 2026 at 8:57 AM UTC, 10 min 21 s after block 972,443. 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 2,005 transactions in 1.43 MB (99.9% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 1.00 sat/vB, up from 1.00 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0204 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, AntPool earned 3.1454 BTC for this block.
Block 972,444 is number 733 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,283 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,556 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 210 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 12 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.