About block 972,685
Bitcoin block 972,685 was mined by AntPool on October 23, 2026 at 1:29 AM UTC, 10 min 6 s after block 972,684. 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 5,529 transactions in 1.69 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.14 sat/vB, and all fees added up to 0.0106 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, AntPool earned 3.1356 BTC for this block.
Block 972,685 is number 974 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,042 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,315 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 209 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 1,061 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.