Where/How does Bitcoin-qt check for receives to it's addresses? How does Bitcoin-qt technically check for receives to it's own addresses. I know it has a list of addresses loaded in from the wallet.dat, but when a new block or new transaction arrives, what logic increments the wallet balance you see and how? I've been told that it uses some merkle tree stuff.
the Blockchain contains all necessary info to know the balance of every address, including "it's own". When it downloads the next block, it updates all known balances by adjusting them based on every transaction in the block. This repeats.