Some embodiments of a system and a method to implement a link-based registry federation have been presented. For instance, a registry federation having a set of registries may be stored in some storage devices. The registries may include Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) registries. Each registry includes one or more records. In response to a request to promote a record of a first registry of the registry federation into a second registry of the registry federation, a delegation link can be inserted into the second registry to refer to the record in the first registry, without fully replicating the record in the second registry.