Lutpin to the rescue!
You have Merits, those you cannot send.
You also have sMerits, those you can only send, they have no other purpose.
When someone gives Merit to you they lose sMerit of the amount transfered and you gain Merit as well as sMerit (which in case you can send again).
Example: Should I send 10 Merit to you for a post, my sMerit would decrease by 10.
Your Merit would increase by 10 and your sMerit would increase by 5.
Merits are exclusively earned, but the sMerit part you also get keeps the circulation flowing.
(Ignoring merit sources here, for the sake of making an easy example.)
(It's the first reply in the announcement thread, I guess that still isnt visible enough
)