About block 972,698
Bitcoin block 972,698 was mined by Foundry USA on October 23, 2026 at 3:05 AM UTC, 14 min 22 s after block 972,697. 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 4,121 transactions in 1.60 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 1.01 sat/vB, up from 1.00 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0162 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, Foundry USA earned 3.1412 BTC for this block.
Block 972,698 is number 987 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 1,029 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 77,302 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. Foundry USA found 263 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 1,035 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.