About block 973,038
Bitcoin block 973,038 was mined by ViaBTC on October 25, 2026 at 7:56 AM UTC, 39 min 41 s after block 973,037. 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 3,481 transactions in 1.70 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 2.21 sat/vB, up from 0.13 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0350 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, ViaBTC earned 3.1600 BTC for this block.
Block 973,038 is number 1,327 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 689 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 76,962 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. ViaBTC found 81 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 557 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.