About block 973,971
Bitcoin block 973,971 was mined by AntPool on October 31, 2026 at 11:45 AM UTC, 1 min 17 s after block 973,970. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 332 transactions in 1.08 MB (99.9% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 2.24 sat/vB, down from 2.34 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0232 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, AntPool earned 3.1482 BTC for this block.
Block 973,971 is number 244 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 483; 1,772 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 975,743. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 76,029 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. AntPool found 199 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 7 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.