user3734: His Bitcoin wallet was only 1% synchronized with the network and yet he was able to receive and send bitcoins without any problems?!
What are the implications / ramifications of this?
What does this mean?

user85: You don't have to do anything to receive Bitcoins. That's entirely passive. Your client doesn't have to be running.
To send Bitcoins, you just need enough information to form the transaction. If you have the transaction that sent them to you and you know it was confirmed, that's sufficient.

user892: You don't need to be synced to receive bitcoins but they will not show up in the client until it has synced the block in which the received bitcoins are included.
If you know that the bitcoins you are sending have not been spent yet at a later point in the blockchain then you can send them and they will be accepted. Otherwise the transaction will be invalid because you double spent them.

3734: <p>His Bitcoin wallet was only 1% synchronized with the network and yet he was able to receive and send bitcoins without any problems?!</p>

<p>What are the implications / ramifications of this?</p>

<p>What does this mean?</p>
 85: <p>You don't have to do anything to receive Bitcoins. That's entirely passive. Your client doesn't have to be running.</p>

<p>To send Bitcoins, you just need enough information to form the transaction. If you have the transaction that sent them to you and you know it was confirmed, that's sufficient.</p>
 892: <p>You don't need to be synced to receive bitcoins but they will not show up in the client until it has synced the block in which the received bitcoins are included.<br/><br/>
If you know that the bitcoins you are sending have not been spent yet at a later point in the blockchain then you can send them and they will be accepted. Otherwise the transaction will be invalid because you double spent them.</p>
