Is there any such clear statement available? Can you please quote it?
I know Merit sources aren't allowed to sell Merit, but other users don't have any restrictions. Disclaimer: I'm not buying (Lol) nor selling Merit.
Theymos said not to worry from the point of running out sMerits not from the point of open buying/selling IMO.
I guess I'll have to dig into theymos' post history:
Merit sales, transfers to aliases, back-and-forth trading, etc. are not much of an issue. All illegitimate merit will decay, and will account for a tiny and very expensive fraction of the total merit economy. It's basically a rounding error; fight it where convenient, but waste no sleep over it.