Biography
Max Levchin — tech (paypal) with roots in the USSR
Max Levchin was born in 1975 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, and emigrated to the United States in 1991. He co-founded PayPal, revolutionizing digital payments, and later founded Affirm, the buy-now-pay-later fintech giant.
"Emigrated with his family from Kyiv to Chicago in 1991, as the USSR collapsed."
Migration storyRussian Connection
Tracing the roots — Kyiv (Ukraine)
Raised in a Ukrainian-Jewish family under Soviet austerity, Levchin learned programming on state-issued computers, a scarcity that sharpened his technical obsession. He has credited the Soviet emphasis on mathematics as foundational to his engineering mindset.
Family Tree
Subject
Max Levchin🇺🇸 USA
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Self (Born there)
Raphael Levchin
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Origin
Kyiv (Ukraine)🇷🇺 USSR
Historical context
Soviet Union (USSR) · 1922–1991
Kyiv (Ukraine). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
Map: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
Key Achievements
A career defined by ambition
01
Co-founded PayPal (1998)
02
Founded Affirm, Inc.
03
Named to Time's 100 Most Influential People
04
PayPal acquisition by eBay for $1.5B (2002)
05
Pioneer of modern fraud-detection algorithms
Sources