About block 972,498
Bitcoin block 972,498 was mined by MARA Pool on October 21, 2026 at 3:45 PM UTC, 1 min 15 s after block 972,497. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 5,951 transactions in 1.72 MB (99.9% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.14 sat/vB, down from 1.52 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0043 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, MARA Pool earned 3.1293 BTC for this block.
Block 972,498 is number 787 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,229 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,502 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. MARA Pool found 52 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 14 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.