You don't need to start with 500M, but run a test where you send 100,000 Toncoin to 100,000 Telegram-premium users as a gift, with a limited time and a condition to create a TON wallet. Or if not to Premium users, then to those who have been active in the last 30 days, chosen at random.

The advantage of this approach is that the distribution can't be abused, since it will be given retrospectively to those who already bring value to Telegram.

My hypothesis is that 90% of Toncoin will remain in the ecosystem, simply because 1 TON is not enough to be transferred to fiat or other networks.
And giving people use cases — gaming, collectibles, defi — will add even more motivation to become a regular participant of the TON Community.

It is quite possible scenario where for 100,000 Toncoin sent, we will get buyers for 1,000,000 Toncoin, simply because some people will discover the value of TON and the potential of the integration with Telegram and will want to transfer their assets from fiat or other networks.

If the 100,000 Toncoin experiment is successful and TON gets more value than money spent, we can continue with a larger audience as long as the right value / money ratio is maintained.

And if it fails — well, it's a small price to pay for trying to save 5 years of onboarding of millions of users. Still, we will have thousands of new onchain users, which doesn't sound too bad.

— Sasha, Open Builders