Polkadot News
Polkadot v0.9.40 has been released with MEDIUM upgrade priority. Release Polkadot v0.9.40 · paritytech/polkadot · GitHub
The next parachain lease auction is scheduled to start tomorrow, Saturday 25 Mar. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
Reminder that applications for the Polkadot Blockchain Academy, 10 July - 10 August in Berkeley, California, are now open. Polkadot Blockchain Academy | Become A Leading Blockchain Engineer
Referendum 111, adjusting nomination parameters, is passing with 99% in favor with 4 days left to vote. https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referendum/111
Specifically, Ref 11 will increase minimum nomination pool creation bond to 500 DOT, increase size required to directly nominate to 200 DOT, increase the maximum number of pools to 256, and enable fast-unstake on Polkadot.
Kusama News
Khala Network has won the most recent parachain lease auction. Kusama Auctions #71-75 and Crowdloans | Parachains.info
The staking rate on Kusama has increased slightly over the last 24 hours to 51.9%. Polkadot Staking Dashboard | Polkadot Staking (DOT)