Considering that borrowing capital can be expensive for consumers and small businesses—with usury limits of 30% and 50%, respectively—and that investors are yield-starved, P2P investing seems like a pretty good match for borrowers, creditors and investors alike. And if initial data is any indication of future results, P2P investing is meeting a particular demand: Since inception in 2014, NSR has opened 240 accounts on its platform and positioned $95 million of capital for investment advisors.

NSR is targeting a 10% annual net return for its fund. Given that the highest-rated three-year certificate of deposit is yielding 1.4%, peer-to-peer lending certainly is alluring.

“We look at P2P as an alternative fixed-income product that should be added to every retail portfolio,” Brustken says. “It’s a very stable product with a nonvolatile source of cash flow.”

Sang Lee, CEO and founder of DarcMatter, a technology platform that connects issuers and qualified investors in the alternative securities space, says there is a multitrillion-dollar sector to be disrupted in the consumer lending industry alone, never mind the alternative asset class space in general.

“Investors are also increasingly looking towards alternatives as an attractive way to achieve portfolio diversification, mainly due to their ability to cushion against market volatility and enhance alpha generation potential. In fact, 73% of financial advisors in the U.S. and 67% of high-net-worth investors are seeking and interested in alternatives for portfolio inclusion,” Lee says.

To be sure, peer-to-peer lending is already a global phenomenon and growing. Peer-to-peer lending now exists in 50 countries and is practiced by 400 different entities.

Brustken and Lee discussed the opportunities in peer-to-peer lending and direct impact securities exchanges at the 4th Annual Denver Impact Investing workshop produced by Charter Financial Publishing in July. Both of their presentations received a flurry of questions from the nearly 100 people—many of whom were financial advisors—who attended the daylong event.

Impact investing is the strategy-cum-philosophy of investing in companies that “do good” from an environmental, social welfare and corporate governance perspective and also produce market rate returns. From that perspective, they fit into the alternative investment asset class basket, but not so neatly. In fact, there are many questions about how “good” alternatives are structured and whether investments such as P2P loans should be considered impact investments at all:

“Why not go to your local credit union [for better rates]?”

“How do you know what the money is being used for?”

“Why is this impact investing? You don’t know if they are buying clubs to kill baby seals.”

“Can we invest in certain loans, or are they all pooled?”

The questions at the impact-investing workshop rolled on and on—from the general to the technical. And while some of the answers were quick to be had, others were not.

For example, credit unions may, in fact, offer better credit options than peer-to-peer lending groups. And with unsecured capital, there is really no way to determine whether a person might use funds for nefarious purposes—such as buying clubs to kill baby seals. But let’s hope not.