The 2+2 post that Chinamaniac linked is by a Merge regular who also runs an affiliate site. He seems particularly close to Merge these days and is very pro-Merge, so I would take anything he reports with a grain of salt.
On one hand, he probably has access to information that we don't, but on the other hand, he's not likely to report anything bad, given his position there.
He actually posts on this site occasionally as "HowQuaint".
There are various scenarios that could be at play here. Some are harmless, and some are very ominous. It is tough to tell where we really stand right now.
Among the possibilities:
1) This is simply a move to make it even tougher for sites like Black Chip to offer secret rakeback.
2) This is a move to make it more difficult for smaller skins to fund its players, thus directing people over to Merge-preferred sites like Carbon.
3) Merge is cash-poor at the moment, and this is a way to decrease cashouts.
4) Merge is having payment processor issues right now, and this is a way to stall cashouts.
5) There is some legal issue at play, which is why America's Cardoom and Lock have also lowered their player-to-player transfer limits without a valid explanation.
6) This is a way to make it less appealing for pros to play on the site, as pros and semi-pros are more likely to receive player-to-player transfers, while fish are more likely to deposit directly.
It could be any of the above, or even something else that I haven't thought of.
There are rumors that this will be undone in mid-November, so I guess we'll see what happens.
