New BSIP: Flag to prevent anyone but the issuer from placing sell orders

BSIP: TBD
Title: Flag to prevent anyone but the issuer from placing sell orders
Authors: Blockchain Projects BV
Status: Draft
Type: Protocol
Created: 2019-02-22
Discussion: https://github.com/bitshares/bitshares-core/pull/1612

# Abstract

The proposed change adds another flag and permission to assets that, when toggled, will limit market orders so that only the issuer will be allowed to place sell orders for the asset.

# Motivation

For crowd-sales that come with different stages and different sell prices, it is crucial to prevent investors from the first round to sell the token during the second round as this reduces the outcome of the investment rounds for the business and results in unwarranted profits for the initial investors.

# Rational

Some businesses that seek investment require a market to be closed during the funding period but still need to allow people to buy the token directly from the business. If the business decides to change the pricing during the investment period, we need to ensure only the issue can sell tokens.

# Specifications

We introduce a new flag for `asset_issuer_permission_flags` with the name `only_issuer_limit_orders_allowed`. This flag will be tested in the evaluator of `limit_order_create_operation` which is the only operation that can place new sell orders for a token.

# Discussion

We would like to engage in discussion to see if it might make sense to setup a separate whitelist for market participate instead of adding a simple flag.

A first pull request against bitshares-core is available [here](https://github.com/bitshares/bitshares-core/pull/1611).

# Summary for Shareholders

This proposal is particular useful for businesses that seek funding through the BitShares platform but require multiple stages for pricing. To close markets but still allow the issuer to sell his tokens on the market, we need this proposal to be added to the blockchain.

# Copyright
Public Domain

Start by reading the BSIP specification and the linked discussion in bitshares/bitshares-core#1612, then review the first pull request in #1611. Clarify whether the simple issuer-only flag or a separate whitelist is intended; done requires a decided protocol design and an accepted implementation path.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.