The 4B certs are not from the public, bought on the pink sheets. These are mainly insider shares that have been converted, or sold to others as PDRs istead of pink sheets shares (they're not selling ANY pink sheets shares - they are buying instead IMO).
There was 1.2B in the float. 4.4B insider held/previously restricted. So if 4B are now in PDR form, I'm guessing that represents about 3.5 of the 4.4B insider shares, and the rest are "our" shares converted to PDRs. Just remember that most of these shares were never owned by the public, of course the insiders believe in the future of the exchange and were happy to convert.
On the paying out - sure, I agree it would have been nice if he commented on that mess. He more generally said, "We will continue to grow, expanding the assets and earnings the company has enjoyed to date. I ask our shareholders to continue to be patient".
But c'mon, he appears to be coming in with good faith and a positive attitude into a very negative situation. They're acutely aware of the paying out as the #1 issue for PDR holders, and reason for lack of faith. He probably didn't comment on it, because it's going to be another month before they start paying out... better to wait until they've solidified the plan, than post another "Deadline" that might get missed. That would be a risky move, it was probably more intelligent to give an update on that once they've actually made some progress. No more premature promises, right?
AI
