Polkadot News
Aventus has been in the lead the entirety of the Ending Period so far, with only a few hours left in the current parachain lease auction. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
Note that Aventus has reached its cap and no more contributions can be made to that crowdloan. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
Referendum 72, proposing to upgrade the Polkadot runtime to v9270, is currently passing unanimously with one day left to vote. https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referendum/72
The staking rate on Polkadot has increased slightly to 52.1%. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
You can see the questions and answers from my most recent Reddit AMA here: Reddit - The heart of the internet
Kusama News
Snow Network has won the most recent parachain lease auction. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
A new parachain lease auction has begun, and BitCountry Pioneer is currently in the lead. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
Referendum 226, proposing to edit the Snow crowdloan parameters, did not pass. Note that the ICE/SNOW Network team asked people to vote against this. Update crowdloan configuration to set intended last period to 30 for Snow (paraID 2127) | Polkassembly
Referendum 227, seeking to lift restrictions on nomination pools (thus allowing 256 pools and 1024 members/pool), is passing unanimously with six days left to vote. https://kusama.polkassembly.io/referendum/227
The staking rate on Kusama has increased 0.7 percentage points over the last few days to 54.0%, while the ideal staking rate has decreased to 49.0%. Polkadot/Substrate Portal
To understand the mathematics of the staking rate, ideal staking rate, and how they impact staking rewards, see Staking on Polkadot - Polkadot Wiki