Share this article
Bitcoin Miners Usually Create 6 Blocks per Hour. They Just Banged Out 16
In a significant deviation from the norm, bitcoin miners just produced 16 blocks in 63 minutes.
By Zack Voell
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 8:35 a.m. Published May 1, 2020, 9:21 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
In an unusual deviation from the norm, bitcoin miners just produced 16 blocks in 63 minutes, according to the Blockstream bitcoin block explorer. Four of the new blocks were reported within 46 seconds at 19:02 UTC on Friday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Each new bitcoin block is produced every 10 minutes, on average. The exact time required to produce a new block can vary significantly and depends in part on the current mining difficulty level, which adjusts every 2,016 blocks, or approximately once every two weeks.
Bitcoin’s anomalous spree of new blocks was first noticed by Étienne Larrivée, bitcoin developer at Satoshi Portal, a Canadian bitcoin financial services company. “Four blocks in less than a minute doesn’t feel natural, but it’s most likely only variance,” Larrivée told CoinDesk.
Such rapid block production could signal bitcoin’s current difficulty level is too low, meaning mining new blocks is too easy. Or it could be a simple coincidence, the product of block time variability.
Read more: Bitcoin Halving, Explained
The event coincides with a six-month high in the aggregate size of unconfirmed transactions in bitcoin’s mempool. Bitcoin transactions are sent to the mempool, which serves as a sort of holding depot, after they have been verified by other non-mining nodes in the network. Miners then take transactions from the mempool and insert them into new blocks, which are then added to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Bitcoin’s mempool soared to 77.58 million bytes worth of unconfirmed transactions on Thursday, according to Blockchain.com.
The high number of unconfirmed transactions coinciding with such rapid block production is curious given that the job of bitcoin miners is to insert unconfirmed transactions in new blocks.
With bitcoin’s third halving less than two weeks away, Friday’s spree of new blocks could signal a significant upcoming mining difficult adjustment amidst a surge in mining power.
UPDATE (May 2, 2020 2:45 UTC): This article has been updated to note that four blocks were reported within 46 seconds instead of arriving within 46 seconds.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Key bitcoin price levels to watch as downward pressure builds
As bitcoin remains in a downtrend, several technical and onchain levels stand out as critical areas of support.
What to know:
- The 100-week moving average at $87,145 remains the main line of defense.
- Below this, the cost basis of U.S. spot bitcoin ETF buyers at $84,099 has provided support during recent consolidation.
- A sustained break below $80,000 would likely open the door to a revisit of the April 2025 low near $76,000.
Top Stories
