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Bitcoin (BTC) could be one alternative Russia might accept as payment for oil and other resources, a Duma committee chairman said during a news conference Thursday.

• Russia, sanctioned because of its invasion of Ukraine, can sell gas to the West for rubles and gold, and to "friendly" countries such as China or Turkey for either national currency or bitcoins, said Duma deputy Pavel Zavalny.

• "If they want to buy, let them pay either in hard currency, and this is gold for us, or pay as it is convenient for us," Zavalny, chairman of the Duma committee on energy, according to a translation of his comments. "The set of currencies can be different, and this is normal practice, [so] you can also trade bitcoins," he continued.

• Zavalny's remarks may or may not be behind a sizable rise in the price of bitcoin over the past 90 minutes. Bitcoin is now up about 3% on the day, at $44,000 for the first time since a brief price spike in early March.