About block 973,978
Bitcoin block 973,978 was mined by MARA Pool on October 31, 2026 at 1:44 PM UTC, 45 min 31 s after block 973,977. 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 4,120 transactions in 1.56 MB (99.9% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 4.06 sat/vB, up from 3.05 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0532 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, MARA Pool earned 3.1782 BTC for this block.
Block 973,978 is number 251 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 483; 1,765 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 975,743. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 76,022 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. MARA Pool found 43 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 13 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.