Summaries have been thin for the last few days.

One of the main reasons for this is that for the past few days, our developers have been testing the Asset Exchange.

Today, I want to give you an overview of what the Asset Exchange looks like in wesleyh’s web interface. This interface will be part of the future incarnation of Nxt, so this is basically a double unveiling!

Wesleyh’s client is a very easy to use web interface, that also has added ways of helping users make a SAFE account with an very strong passphrase.

DO NOT USE THIS CLIENT WITH YOUR NORMAL ACCOUNT FOR NOW! MAKE A NEW ACCOUNT FOR THE TESTNET!

What ís the Asset Exchange?

Many may have heard of the Asset Exchange, but may not have a good idea of what it is. Simply put, the Asset Exchange is a feature of the Nxt system, that allows you to create digital tokens using Nxt. These tokens can be ánything, provided you can make them work the way you want.

For instance, it is possible to create virtual tokens backed by gold. If you could prove decisively that you actually háve this gold, it would be possible to sell these tokens, which then stand for that gold.

Another example would be issuing digital stocks for a company you have or are starting. These digital certificates allow you to immediately trade them and also, because they are tied to accounts to pay out dividends.

Other examples of possibilities are tokens used in games (game currency) and tokens directly linked to other cryptocurrencies.

So far, so good. But how to trade them? Well, in the Asset Exchange itself! The Nxt Asset Exchange is a complete Exchange built withín Nxt! You can trade Assets without ever having to rely on the trustworthiness of a central “banker” or “trader”. You can trade directly between accounts, and as anonymous as you prefer.

The Nitty Gritty

I would first like to show you the protection that has been added to the interface. One of the most often named complaint about Nxt has been that it needs such a strong passphrase, that normal users just won’t use it, or even worse, dó use it and then get their Nxt stolen. This new interface makes this very, very hard to do. It will pregenerate a cryptographically very strong passphrase for the beginning user, while also leaving open the option to generate your own, if you feel you want to keep control. It gives multiple warnings that the passphrase needs to be kept very safe and that losing it means losing access to your account. The interface is also esthetically pleasing and colourful.

I will do a total showcase of this interface in a future post. For now, I’ll leave you to wonder at everything it can do!

The Asset Exchange has an easy to navigate main screen, where you can see all the Assets available on the Nxt ecosystem. You can see the price in Nxt and the open Buy and Sell orders. To issue your own Asset, you will need to pay the fee of 1000 Nxt (this fee hasn’t been definitely decided on yet and may still change), give it a name and description, and the amount of assets you wish to issue. Once this has been added to the blockchain, you can immediately start trading with your Asset. In your “My Assets” screen, you can see which Assets you currently own, what the price on the market is and transfer them to another account if you want.

Buying and Selling on the network is easy. Just like on any known exchange, you can issue buy and sell orders. Of course, using the “transfer” function, there is also still the option to trade outside the network if you want to do that. After an order has been filled, the Assets will show up in your “my Assets” screen with the current market data.

When?

The Asset Exchange is slated to be released at the end of March or the beginning of April. At the moment, rigorous testing is being done to flush out any bugs it may have. Once our developers are convinced it is ready to go into production, it will become available to everyone. At that point, the term “Nxtcoin” will basically lose is meaning, as from that point on we will have a multitude of “Nxtcoins”, ranging from “traditional cryptocoins” to digital assets, to digital certificates. Nxt will have taken a serious step to becoming what it is meant to be: not a coin, but a fully operational system for decentralised transactions.