On March 24, 2026, Bitcoin's blockchain briefly split after two major mining pools — Antpool and Foundry USA — each mined a valid version of block 941,881 within seconds of each other. The split was resolved when one of the pools extended its chain by six blocks, forcing the other to abandon its fork.
How the split happened
Antpool mined block 941,881 at 15:49:35 UTC. Just 12 seconds later, Foundry USA mined its own version of the same block. Both blocks were valid, so the network temporarily diverged into two competing chains. Such near-simultaneous block finds are rare but can happen when pools have similar hash power and propagation delays.
Resolution through chain extension
The split ended when one pool managed to mine six consecutive blocks on its fork. Under Bitcoin's consensus rules, the longest chain is considered the valid one. The shorter fork was orphaned, and the network returned to a single chain. The entire episode lasted only a few minutes.
What this means for miners
Blockchain splits are a known risk in proof-of-work systems. They typically occur when two miners find a block at nearly the same time. The incident shows how fast block propagation and mining pool coordination help maintain network consensus. No transactions were lost, and the network continued operating normally after the split resolved.
