We know he is working on it because he talks with everyone daily on irc and gives updates. In addition, he always finishes his projects. He has a history of always finishing his projects. Simple as that. He doesn't need to send you copies of what he is doing to prove he is working on it. Devs don't send out copies to random people to peruse and evaluate. He is still working on it. Be patient and you'll like what they release.
Are there any (public) archives of cryptcoin channel on IRC?
Yes, try to search on here:
http://www.google.comI've already done that. Google doesn't find any relevant archive. This channel is also not archived on services like
www.irclog.org for unknown reasons.
What's the official name of the channel? #cryptcoin or something else?
EDIT: irclog.org service seems dead (it is not updating archives anymore). It seems that other similar services (irseek.com) are also dead. IRC is such great technology.