Recently, I noticed that a certain exchange has launched a contract mining feature, and the incentive design is pretty straightforward.

The core logic can be summed up in one sentence: you mine platform tokens while opening and trading positions. It’s not one of those “pie-in-the-sky” point systems—instead, every time you execute a trade, the system directly deposits tokens into your account, and these tokens can be immediately traded or cashed out.

What’s interesting is that, in the traditional setup, trading fees are a pure cost. With this mechanism, part of that cost is essentially converted into a tradable asset. For high-frequency traders, this creates a certain degree of offset between trading fees and mining rewards, turning trading activity itself into a source of income.

This “trade-to-mine” design isn’t an entirely new concept, but it’s rare to see a platform take it to this level.