Bitcoin now has higher market cap than Russian currency

New Delhi, March 2:  As Russia intensifies its battle to take control of Ukraine, Bitcoin on Wednesday soared to $44,000, pushing the total cryptocurrency market cap to cross $2 trillion.

With the recent gains, Bitcoin now has a higher market cap than the rapidly-declining Russian currency ruble.

Bitcoin has a market cap of approximately $835 billion while the ruble has a market cap of around $626 billion.

The crypto market was last at $2 trillion in August 2021.

In the last week since the Russia-Ukraine war started, Bitcoin has jumped nearly 14 per cent and ethereum 12 per cent, according to CoinGecko data.

Terra's LUNA token had a stratospheric rise, climbing nearly 70 per cent during the last week, and is now trading at approximately $94.

Solana's SOL and other layer 1 tokens like Avalanche's AVAX and Polkadot's DOT also responded well, reports CoinDesk.

Similar to volatility, Bitcoin's trading volume across major exchanges reached the highest level since the December 5 price crash, according to CoinDesk data.

Earlier, the global crypto market lost nearly 10 per cent of its value as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday. Over $200 billion worth of its global market value was wiped out.

The most-hit cryptocurrencies were Ethereum, Cardano, Avalanche, and Polkadot, along with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

Some traders, however, expected the price bounce to be short-lived amid geopolitical uncertainty.