Someone did suggest the idea, but I think the general consensus was that Hive already has a staking mechanism (power up). These are some of the anti-"Hive interest payments" arguments that I recall hearing:

Hive power already pays a variable base interest rate (it varies depending on things like overall supply of Hive/Hive power and the inflation rate of Hive, last time I checked it was ~3%) plus staked In addition, Hive power pays curation rewards for active voters (which easily yields an extra 8-11%). So an active hive power holder will typically earn around 14% APR (probably more given the curation rewards can compound weekly). In other words, if you want to earn interest on Hive, the current way is to power it up and earn by actively participating in governance of the network (by voting on posts and witnesses).

Creating a second staking mechanism for earning interest on Hive passively could also create a disincentive for Hive holders to power up, which means less hive power voting for witnesses, which would make it easier for one larger stakeholder to vote in their own slate of witnesses.