I find this an interesting point to bring up. My family were also on income support when I was younger, and I also applied for the Youth Opportunity Funding grant in the UK and was awarded £1,250.

Similar to drsim I intended to start my own media business using the money, so I purchased a cheap PC, a camera, business cards, etc

In order to apply for the money I had to go through what was quite a lengthy process, which overall took three months to complete. I had to choose every item in advance with photocopies of the catalogue; this was to prevent people cheating the funding and spending it on other things. This also made it difficult to include consumables such as an internet subscription and transportation costs.

Does YC plan to background check and make sure the $12,000 would actually be spent on what it's intended for?

Also, does YC still consider applicants based in Asia, or is it US-based for the time being?