The top investors in President Trump's meme coin are attending an exclusive gala with the president -- but some critics are blasting it as a brazen pay-for-play event.

It seems like a triumph for a cryptocurrency industry that’s sought mainstream acceptance: Top investors in one of President Donald Trump’s crypto projects invited to dine with him at his luxury golf

WASHINGTON (AP) — It seems like a triumph for a cryptocurrency industry that has long sought mainstream acceptance: Top investors in one of President Donald Trump ’s crypto projects invited to dine with him at his luxury golf club in Northern Virginia on the heels of the Senate advancing key pro-crypto legislation and while bitcoin prices soar.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, who attended a protest outside Donald Trump’s dinner, joins MSNBC’s Jason Johnson to discuss Trump’s latest corruption – the “shocking” dinner hosting the top buyers of his crypto coin in which the majority of guests appear to be foreign.

The largest buyers of $TRUMP will be rewarded with a private dinner with President Trump at his golf course in Virginia.

Price move gives renewed hope that the digital token can achieve a kind of escape velocity against almost any economic backdrop.