Observers are likely to take the statement as a shot at Coinbase for apparently helping people to get into crypto for speculative purposes, instead of for practical purposes, unlike Blockchain. The implication, in other words, is that Smith was hinting that the trading and investment-heavy Coinbase model does not necessarily help the long-term adoption of crypto, and it may have in fact contributed to the crypto industry downturn.
https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-wallet-blockchain-says-its-adding-50k-users-per-day/Its the "observers" that are making an issue out of a statement made by an entrepreneur trying to encourage people and doing so innocently. His statement does not signify any shot taken against coinbase at all as both operates in the same market and there is high possibility that same individual opens account on both platform so they might be claiming credit for just an individual because its about emails and unique numbers than person. More so, I would trust coinbase figure more that blockchain because of verification practically absent on blockchain platform.
Whether one is providing is platform for speculative purposes, and another having "real" enthusiasts, they are both pursuing the same object how they know best as you can't separate the two. An enthusiast will be encouraged to stay if only he can get rewarded for being a speculator and the same thing applies to speculators that can get stuck because he needs to make decent returns thereby being a convinced enthusiast.