I spent a 1 hour the other night to learn about nxt. The assets are back by reputation alone.......that doesn't work for me
It depends on the asset. Some are a representation of something, like the NxtGenMining assets. Each NxtGenGHS asset is 1 GH/s of SHA256 hashing power represented by real mining hardware. The asset pays "dividends" in the form of NXT purchased with the mined coin minus the fee to cover the hosting/electricity overhead.
Some are a token of value elsewhere... like the bitfinex_usd asset which is backed by a bitfinex account that is audited monthly. Also the mgwCOIN assets that are a representation of the actual coins help in the mgw wallets secured by multi-signature addresses.
Some are like mutual funds that hold other assets.
I think the hope is that some will become registered securities of real companies. But, basically, any Stock is similar... there are penny stocks and blue chips. You have to do your due diligence.
Your right. I even saw that a user created a company that will do audits on other users assets to make sure that they really have what they say they have. Nxt also has a leg up in the fact that its got some age to it and has taken it's knocks so to speak. The system isn't bad its just different.
At Bitshares, once the platform was released the pace has been fast, very fast. I have found the people to have a unique blend of tech know how coupled with a (what I believe) great understanding of economics. Monday will tell us alot but I think even if it is not a successful run that the problems will be corrected.
But alas this is all speculation. We all bet on the platform we *think* will be the new big thing. Do some reading on the bitshares forum I know I gathered a few ideas from the nxt forum.