About block 973,661
Bitcoin block 973,661 was mined by MARA Pool on October 29, 2026 at 7:46 AM UTC, 3 min 49 s after block 973,660. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 868 transactions in 1.84 MB (99.9% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 0.45 sat/vB, up from 0.45 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0079 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, MARA Pool earned 3.1329 BTC for this block.
Block 973,661 is number 1,950 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 482; 66 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 973,727. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 76,339 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. MARA Pool found 46 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 6 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.