I was intrigued by the fact that outstanding shorts are so close...

I was intrigued by the fact that outstanding shorts are so close to the number of existing warrants. So I was trying to conjure up a possible link between them. QIN said they have no reason to believe they are linked.
My thought is that it is possible for the shorters to use the Warrants to put a cap on the maximum loss they can incur. They could do that by buying up the Warrants before shorting.

So if the strategy failed and price shot up, their maximum loss per share would be limited to-
Max loss = $1.28 - $short.
This is compared to, say if there is a takeover over @ $3, their loss would be
Loss @ $3 Takeover price = $3 - $short.
$short = the price at which they have/will short

They could have bought the Warrants for <$0.20 mid last year or ~$0 now.

If this is a valid scenario, that would explain that GR has not taken an unacceptable risk in this case.