About block 973,986
Bitcoin block 973,986 was mined by ViaBTC on October 31, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC, 8 min 57 s after block 973,985. That is faster than the 10-minute average the network aims for: blocks come in bursts because finding one is pure chance.
It confirmed 3,449 transactions in 1.74 MB (99.8% of the 4 million weight-unit limit). The median transaction paid 1.38 sat/vB, up from 0.82 sat/vB in the block before, and all fees added up to 0.0229 BTC. With the 3.125 BTC subsidy of halving era 5, ViaBTC earned 3.1479 BTC for this block.
Block 973,986 is number 259 of 2,016 in difficulty epoch 483; 1,757 blocks remain until the next difficulty adjustment at block 975,743. The next halving is at block 1,050,000, 76,014 blocks after this one.
Its hash starts with 21 zeros: that is the proof of work, a number below the target that the whole network’s hashrate had to search for. ViaBTC found 96 blocks in the week before. Today the block has 12 confirmations, so it is settled beyond any practical doubt.