Polkadot Digest 24 Mar 2023

Polkadot News

Polkadot v0.9.40 has been released with MEDIUM upgrade priority. https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot/releases/tag/v0.9.40

The next parachain lease auction is scheduled to start tomorrow, Saturday 25 Mar. https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=wss%3A%2F%2Fpolkadot-rpc-tn.dwellir.com#/parachains/auctions

Reminder that applications for the Polkadot Blockchain Academy, 10 July - 10 August in Berkeley, California, are now open. https://polkadot.network/development/academy/

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. https://parachains.info/auctions/kusama-71-75#kusama%5Fauction%5F74

The staking rate on Kusama has increased slightly over the last 24 hours to 51.9%. https://staking.polkadot.network/#/overview