What is Block Height?
The number of blocks that exist between a given block and the Genesis Block (the first block ever created). As of early 2026, Bitcoin's block height is over 936,000. Block height is used to measure time and progress on the Bitcoin network.
Why It Matters
Block height is Bitcoin's way of marking time without relying on clocks. New blocks arrive every 10 minutes. Block height serves as a timestamp of sorts. Important Bitcoin events are marked by block height rather than dates. Halvings happen at specific heights: 210,000, 420,000, 630,000, 840,000.
This matters because it's objective and verifiable. You can't argue about what the current block height is. Nodes count blocks from the Genesis Block independently. Block height also tells you how deeply confirmed a transaction is. If your transaction is in block 936,000 and the current height is 936,010, you have 10 confirmations.
How It Works
The Genesis Block is block height 0. Every subsequent block adds one. Blocks arrive roughly every 10 minutes on average. Multiply new blocks by 10 for an elapsed-time estimate. The difficulty adjustment mechanism automatically recalibrates every 2,016 blocks to maintain that 10-minute average, even as mining power on the network changes drastically over the long arc of Bitcoin's existence. The result is a consistent, predictable measure of progress that runs independent of calendar time.