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. Russia Sets Ruble Exchange Rates to Prevent Crash: 101 Rubles for 1 Euro, 90 Rubles for One US Dollar.

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.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 03, 2022 12:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).