By law, Stripe must ask for your SSN to make sure you are who you say you are, and that you’re authorized to act on behalf of an entity (company, organization, or business). Your SSN is for identity verification ONLY; Stripe is federally required to officially know someone connected to the account. Sometimes stripe may ask for your full SSN, other times all that is needed is the last 4 digits. Your information is secure, and Music Traveler doesn’t access or store it. As stated on Stripe's website: "This information is required as part of Stripe’s mandatory identity verification requirement: Stripe must collect, verify, and maintain information on the individuals associated with every US Stripe account, as required by our regulators and financial partners. This is intended to promote transparency and prevent individuals from using complex company structures to hide terrorist financing, money laundering, tax evasion, and other financial crimes."