An unknown mining entity, possibly F2Pool, mined a block containing nothing but the mandatory coinbase transaction, continuing a rare but well-understood pattern in <a href="https://cryptoz7.com/<a href="https://cryptoz7.com/crypto-winter-or-the-big-crash-where-bitcoin-could-go-next/” title=”Crypto Winter or the Big Crash? Where Bitcoin Could Go Next”>bitcoin-etf-net-flows-drop-to-49-7m/” title=”Bitcoin: ETF Net Flows Drop to -49.7M”>Bitcoin mining.
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byEditorial Team
Jul. 29, 2026
A Bitcoin block mined on July 28, 2026, at approximately 02:28 UTC contained exactly zero user transactions. Block 960,017 included only the mandatory coinbase transaction, which is the automatic reward a miner receives for successfully adding a block to the chain, and collected 0 BTC in transaction fees.
The miner responsible is listed as “Unknown,” though some
Why miners sometimes produce empty blocks
When a new block is found on the Bitcoin network, competing mining pools face a brief window where they haven’t fully validated the previous block’s transactions yet. During that interval, they have two choices: stop hashing and wait for full validation, or start working on a new block immediately using what’s called SPV (Simplified Payment Verification) mining.
In English: miners would rather submit an empty block and collect the block subsidy than risk wasting precious seconds validating transactions while a competitor beats them to the next block.
Empty blocks are getting rarer, not more common
Historical data indicates that empty blocks once accounted for over 10% of all mined blocks during Bitcoin’s early years. Today, that figure has dropped to less than 1%.
The decline is largely thanks to improvements in network infrastructure, faster block propagation protocols like compact blocks, and better validation software.
This isn’t the first empty block in recent memory, either. SpiderPool mined an empty block at height 954,352 on June 19, 2026, weighing just 1.16 kWU.
What this tells us about network demand
As of July 29, 2026, there has been no significant market reaction to this block. Bitcoin’s price hasn’t moved on the news, and no major analysts have flagged it as concerning.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
