It's interesting to note from page 30 of the criminal complaint, StackOverflow was able to record "Ulbricht [changing] his registration email [...] to '[email protected]'".
Why do sites like StackOverflow keep audit logs of your account information?
Most FX brokers do not "exchange money", that is in the sense that you can withdraw the quote currency. Because of this, they don't have to deal with money laundering.
FX brokers and MtGox also have different business models. Brokers usually make money off their spreads, slightly adjusting their quotes in their favor. Traders on MtGox trade directly with other users, not against the company. This attracts different crowds.
Fiat is also not as volatile as Bitcoin. A .35% fee on Forex would completely devastate profits. Meanwhile, Bitcoin rises and falls 10% on a good weekend.
Bitcoin exchanges would be comparable to stock exchanges like NYSE or NASDAQ, except volume is lower in the tens of magnitudes.
Before CoinLab shifted gears and got sued by MtGox, what this guy got fired for was exactly CoinLab's startup: monetizing games through Bitcoin mining.
Needless to say, with Bitcoin ASICs on their way back then, this wasn't exactly a sustainable business model.
You can create an account anonymously and pay in Bitcoin, and not leave a paper trail. That's exactly what I did.
Their policies state that they do not log, but I personally find this questionable. Much torrent traffic goes through their network, and I couldn't imagine how they respond to complaints sent by media companies to their US servers. They claim that they use "proprietary technology" to deal with abuse, but that seems only to be with blocking outgoing DoS attacks.
It may also be useful to note that they've been supportive of the Bitcoin community. They host BitcoinTalk, and were also one of the first VPNs to accept Bitcoin.
The answer is not black and white, although there are certain indicators that make an email very likely to be malicious.
In this case, record the ultimate destination of the link in an isolated browser session (to prevent a possible CSRF attack), then make your judgement from there.
Why do sites like StackOverflow keep audit logs of your account information?