The core idea in BTC is transferring value peer to peer, without intermediaries, and without the need to trust each other. So you can safely send and receive payments from anybody.

But as safe as the block-chain is, you are still going through third parties - the people/computers running the software (the "nodes") and keeping a copy of the blockchain, based on which you are transacting.

You can even mitigate that risk by setting up your own node, so when you transact you verify against your own copy of the blockchain.

Also, the more nodes there are, the more robust the network becomes, so it's for the common good too.

Now, the hot take: don't do it unless you are very invested and relatively tech-savvy.