About block 972,697
Bitcoin block 972,697 was mined by AntPool on October 23, 2026 at 2:51 AM UTC, 2 min 55 s after block 972,696. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 2,422 transactions in 1.38 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 1.00 sat/vB, down from 2.00 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0110 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, AntPool earned 3.1360 BTC for this block.
Block 972,697 is number 986 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,030 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,303 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. AntPool found 205 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 1,036 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.