What if it’s a corrupt version?
Discussion
Syncing the chain won't check if the software is corrupt or not, right?
How would it know whether or not before it was fully validated?
No. Syncing the entire chain will only verify that the chain data is valid. You could still have malicious/corrupt software. E.g. the wallet or a component of the wallet, if I understand your question correctly.
Right. As long as the software is good and there is no overlay software potentially fucking with your whole screen (looking at you, Microsoft), then youbcan receive at that new address just fine. To verify that you have received the coins with a few confirmations is a matter of checking multiple other people's nodes for a pretty high degree of confidence, or checking your own node once fully synced with the timechain for certainty.
I believe Electrum wallet by default checks 10 different nodes. You can use blockstream and mempool.space nodes too.
Best to use multiple sources, not just the electrum wallet, in case of an attack of spam nodes
But better still to verify with one of your own fully synced nodes.
I run one full node 24/7 and some pruned nodes. You can verify with certainty that the coins are received and confirmed on a mempool.space instance tied to such a setup instead of waiting for the new node to sync itself.
Exactly. People still have to trust the software. Since that trust is already established, software could ship with checksums for some later starting blocks in order to allow a more recent starting point.