Can anyone explain Smart Assets?

[Scott_Guyton]

Hello!

I’m trying to design an inventory system that uses Nem on the backend but my knowledge is about what Nem can do is limited to what I read on the site and technical paper. My biggest questions have to do with mosaics since I couldn’t find good documentation about them.

1. Let’s say I create a namespace and a mosaic. Is there a way to programmatically send the token to something like /dev/null if I wanted to burn that token?

2. Similarly, is there a way to generate mosaic tokens on demand?

3. Can transaction messages be used as a signaling channel? I.e. When a transaction is triggered, the recipient receives the message and then performs some action based on the message contents.

4. How does the message encryption work?

5. is there a definitive document that explains mosaics, how to use them etc.

6. On the website nem.io, they describe the creation of smart assets as
   "To create truly Smart Assets, however, NEM allows you to create Addresses that act as containers for Mosaics that can be connected with Multisig rules. "
   Are there any guides on how this works? Where can I find them?

Thank you

[memario]

Let’s say I create a namespace and a mosaic. Is there a way to programmatically send the token to something like /dev/null if I wanted to burn that token?

Not sure if you can burn them. Not sure that you’ll need to either tho. In what instance would you like to burn them ?

Similarly, is there a way to generate mosaic tokens on demand?

Yes, you can raise the supply on demand afaik.

Can transaction messages be used as a signaling channel? I.e. When a transaction is triggered, the recipient receives the message and then performs some action based on the message contents.

Yes, you can use it that way. Depending on how much data you’ll need to be sending it could get expensive tho.

How does the message encryption work?

What exactly is unclear ? The message is encrypted on one end and can be encrypted only with the private-key that belongs to the public-key that was targeted. For any implentational details please consult the techref https://nem.io/wp-content/themes/nem/files/NEM_techRef.pdf and the api-docs https://docs.nem.io/en/nem-apis

is there a definitive document that explains mosaics, how to use them etc.

Not entirely sure it’s up to date but this may be of help: https://blog.nem.io/mosaics-and-namespaces-2/ . Also https://docs.nem.io/en/nanowallet/namespaces and https://docs.nem.io/en/nanowallet/mosaics

On the website nem.io, they describe the creation of smart assets as

"To create truly Smart Assets, however, NEM allows you to create Addresses that act as containers for Mosaics that can be connected with Multisig rules. "

Are there any guides on how this works? Where can I find them?

This is marketing talk for mosaics in multi-sig accounts I think. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to it unless you have some specific use case that needs exactly this, in which case please tell us about the use case and we can give you some hints on how to do it.

Hope this helps.

[CryptoBeliever]

• if you want burn mosaic you can send it to some sink address for example and for address for which you destroy access (private key). Maybe someone has better idea
• when you create mosaic there is checkbox “Mutable supply”. If it’s checked supply can be changed over time.

Please watch this video:

It should give you some general overview about namespaces, subnamespaces, creating mosaics.

[Scott_Guyton]

Thank you for answering my questions!

Essentially, my idea to ‘burn’ tokens would be used when two or more tracked items are used as input to another item. For example:

input tokens
supplierA:product_wheels_well
supplierB:product_bike_frame
supplierC:product_bike_handles

output token generated when the defined number of input tokens are received
retailerA:bike

Essentially, when the bike token is made I want to consume the inputs to prevent duplication. I think pawelm’s idea to use the sink address could work quite well for this.