Bitcoin mined an empty block at height 866508

ChainCatcher news, according to mempool data, miners mined an empty block at Bitcoin height 866508 (i.e., the block only contains one transaction, the block reward Coinbase), with a time interval of only 36 seconds from the previous block height.

Miners package empty blocks out of economic considerations, and doing so is the wisest choice for miners. In order to make the most of this time for mining and avoid conflicts with transactions packed in the parent block, miners cannot fill the block with transactions, meaning that miners can only attempt to mine empty blocks.