Embodiments are provided for an asynchronous processor with pipelined arithmetic and logic unit. The asynchronous processor includes a non-transitory memory for storing instructions and a plurality of instruction execution units (XUs) arranged in a ring architecture for passing tokens. Each one of the XUs comprises a logic circuit configured to fetch a first instruction from the non-transitory memory, and execute the first instruction. The logic circuit is also configured to fetch a second instruction from the non-transitory memory, and execute the second instruction, regardless whether the one of the XUs holds a token for writing the first instruction. The logic circuit is further configured to write the first instruction to the non-transitory memory after fetching the second instruction.