Is SSN a must to open a merchant account - Stripe preferred?

Is SSN a must to open a merchant account - Stripe preferred? I was going to form a LLC in US after researching a lot and reading posts like: http://blog.freshdesk.com/how-to-incorporate-a-us-corporation-from-outs/ But I came to the conclusion that, this won't be enough for a Stripe account because it seems that an SSN is a must. [1] Is this the case with merchant account providers too? [2] Generally speaking, for a start-up, outside US, that wants to charge credit cards and sell subscriptions, what would be the easiest route? (Creating a good product is hard as it is and these kind of restrictions absorb the energy that would otherwise be used for the product)