I saw that myself but they don't bother to explain what it is. The launch of nxt as a currency exchange
here is the explanation:
The Nxt Asset Exchange is a peer-peer exchange built into the software allowing decentralized trading and eliminate trading fees. The Nxt Asset Exchange will allow trading for almost any currency and for almost any commodity.
This feature is based on the "colored coins" concept. Since the blockchain provides a trustworthy record of transactions, it can be leveraged to provide a record of trade of items other than Nxt. To do this, Nxt allows the designation or "coloring" of a particular coin, which builds a bridge from the virtual crypto-currency world to the physical world. The "colored coin" can represent property, stocks/bonds, commodites, or even concepts. As a result, the Nxt Asset Exchange could be used to trade almost anything.
Thanks for the explanation.
Can you or anyone enlighten me on the mechanics of how an actual trade will work?
case1 commodities
Lets say that I grow the best apples. I want to sell out of area, so I must ship my apples. I make a post of 100 apples for $100. A buyer contacts me. I don't know the buyer.
What happens next? How does the escrow work? How do I the buyer or seller protect myself from fraud?
case2 property
I have 100 shitcoins that I want to trade for 100 scamcoins. How does an escrow work in this scenario? If the coins are represented by tokens then what prevents a double spend? How can I obtain my coins if they are represented by a token? Does there need to be some type of gateway wallet on a server somewhere? What happens to this gateway when there are 10,000 coins?