About block 973,196
Bitcoin block 973,196 was mined by Foundry USA on October 26, 2026 at 6:01 AM UTC, 11 min 49 s after block 973,195. 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 4,539 transactions in 1.58 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 1.00 sat/vB, up from 0.14 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0115 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, Foundry USA earned 3.1365 BTC for this block.
Block 973,196 is number 1,485 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 531 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 76,804 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 265 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 334 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.