kindly check the definition of the term "backed"
The budget we received to start this preliminary study obviously came from the "government" - hence, government-backed and it is not big. I don't know where your skepticism comes from since we're giving away all the coins. In fact, we encourage you to use it or give it away and not to exchange it for money.
Let's be realistic. The Viacoin protocol on which this coin is based on is so immature in its current state. Mobile payments are far, far more advanced in its development. In our country, mobile telcos had launched "Smart Money" and "G-Cash" (Google it) on which both are much easier to use. The only problem with them is they require trusting a third party, being centralized and require huge amount of resources - while blockchain technology needs the resources its users provide to maintain and protect the integrity of the network.
So far, Viacoin/Clearinghouse seems to be a better version of Bitcoin/Counterparty at this point in time. Our government wants to catch up with emerging technologies, hence, this study.
Actually, if you just hold on to your
free coins, it may reach 0.00006513 satoshis (based on BTC/PHP) some day.